November 30, 2008

A Christmas Wish Granted

My niece Christina was up for Thanksgiving Day weekend from Miami, where she lives, with her boyfriend Chris and his mother Mercedes, and the weather was the kind only a native New Englander could not complain about: cool to the bone and a little damp.
Mercedes, sipping apple cider, said that before she flew back to Miami Sunday night she would like to see at least a little snow.
And on Sunday morning, she got her wish -- for a little while, it snowed like the inside of a shaker globe. It wasn't enough snow to stick to the ground and make a mess for people to shovel or plow, but it was just enough for dramatic effect, and wish fulfillment.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 29, 2008

Christmas Tree Solution For Tight Budget

The Boy Scouts in Oxford begin their four-week sale today of Christmas trees, through Christmas Eve Dec. 24, outside Fritz' Snack Bar on Route 67 in Oxford.
Of course, there are plenty of places to buy a live tree, including the tree farms in Shelton and Easton. The question is, what if money is tight because of the recession, and a tree is unaffordable?
The answer: buy a wreath instead. A Christmas tree farmer told me back in the 1980s, probably during the last major recession, that an evergreen wreath provides the same symbolic meaning as an evergreen tree, with the same bayberry aroma, but costs much less. You can hang the wreath on a wall, instead of a door, and place gifts beneath it the way you would a tree. A few simple ornaments and you're decorated.
And, it won't have a harmful effect on the natural environment.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 28, 2008

Scenes From Black Friday Morning

I was ready for some bacon and eggs and coffee after interviewing the 4 a.m. Black Friday shoppers at J.C. Penney's in Trumbull, so I drove down the road to a fast food restaurant in Bridgeport, where there was a big sign outside that said "24-hour drive-through."
I rolled up to the window and beeped the horn a couple of times before the gal working inside finally signalled to me that it wouldn't open until 6 a.m.!
+++
The parking lot of Walmart in Stratford was jammed with thousands of cars, and a woman from Bridgeport couldn't find her car and was beginning to feel ill.
I handed her my cell phone, so she could call her boyfriend out of the store, and she gathered her thoughts, looked around a little more, and spotted it.
It was right across from my own car, which I had parked so I could get out and interview her about what she had bought!
+++
I had just pulled up into the parking lot of J.C. Penney in Trumbull at 4 a.m. and saw a woman running through the parking lot to get to the entrance; she dropped something that looked very much like a greenback.
I beeped the horn but could not get her attention. Then I noticed a woman and a boy standing near the entrance, watching the whole scene, and as soon as the lady passed them by, the woman gestured to the boy to go check out what that paper was on the ground.
The boy ran over to it, examined it, and ran back in disappointment. It was a doughnut wrapper.
--- TONY SPINELLI

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November 27, 2008

Gladness of Giving On Thanksgiving

I left the newsroom about 4:30 p.m., after a day of shooting and editing video of the FCIAC high school football championship. I promised my son, Ant, who is 19, I would meet up with him for dinner at my sister Theresa's house in Monroe.
On the way there, I was glad that I had contributed what I did this year to the charity food pantries and soup kitchens, which feed the poor and just plain broke among us. I would not be able to sit down and enjoy that roast turkey dinner thinking that other Americans are going without. Even in a recession, when people are making less on commissions, tips and overtime and money is tight, we are thankful we have each other -- our fellow Americans who do not allow the poor among us to go hungry in the night. The bottom line is that we care about one another.
Next up: Toys For Tots.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 26, 2008

Who Has the Best NY-Style Cheesecake?

I've been a fan of New York-style cheesecake for years. When I was younger and spent lots of time in New York, I couldn't afford to go to Broadway shows and eat dinner in fancy restaurants but I always made a point of getting some genuine NY cheesecake. Now that the winter holidays are upon us, I'd like to know: who in your opinion in Southern Connecticut sells/makes the best NY-style cheesecake?
Please let me know where to find it, and if I taste it and find that it is good, I will write about it here on this blog.
So let me know!
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Stupid Questions Of Modern Life

There are some questions we get routinely asked, as we go about our daily lives in this modern world, that really shouldn't be asked at all because they are so obvious.
+You go to the drive-through fast-food restaurant and pay with your debit card. They ask, "would you like a receipt?" Of course you want a receipt! How are you supposed to keep up with your bookeeping on your checking account without a receipt!
+You go to the bank to make a deposit, or a withdrawal, and the teller asks, "would you like me to print your balance on your receipt?" Why would you not want to see your balance? Of course they should put it on there -- they shouldn't even have to ask!
+You go to the store to buy a dozen eggs and the cashier asks, "would you like that in a bag?" Of course you want your groceries in a bag! What are you going to do, carry them in your hands?
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Aggressive Sales Pitches Take The Cake

I can appreciate a hard-driving sales pitch. My own industry, news media, would shrivel up and blow away like a dustball if it were not for the efforts of advertising salespeople. But when retail salesmen try to sell you the wrong size clothing, and insist that you can make it work, it takes the cake.
I had that experience when I went to a certain shoe store that I won't name and told the salesman I needed to see some wingtips in 11.5 wide. "Oh I'm sorry we don't have that size, why don't you take a size 12?," he asked.
A fool and his money are soon parted, but I was no imbecile that day. I left the store.
I went back there some time later, willing to give the place a second chance and not rush to judgment on their poor tactics, and the same thing happened. They tried to foist a size 12 on me, when I know, and they know, that you really do need to wear the correct size shoe. I took my business somewhere else.
The same thing happened when I stopped by a local men's shop, off the mall, to perhaps buy a necktie. I wear a size extra long, not because I am tall -- I am average height -- but because I have a thick neck. (I wear a size 19/35 shirt.)
The salesman did not have XL-size ties, but he tried to persuade me that I could wear a regular length tie anyway, because nobody would notice the short end in back is too short anyway. Well, I'm sorry, but that is not true. Sizes are made for a reason; you have to wear your proper size. A tie that is too short is just not going to look right.
These aggressive salesmen remind me very much of the clothiers in the classic children's story, "The Emperor's New Clothes," who had the gullible emperor so bamboozled with their sales pitches that he did not notice how ridiculous he looked.
-- TONY SPINELLI

ADDENDUM: I've told you a horror story about aggressive salesmen trying to sell the wrong size clothing. Now let me about an honestly terrific clothing and shoe store that in my opinion, is well worth your visit: Sym's, in Fairfield.
Sym's carries every size. They have a nice selection, with a range of prices depending on your budget. And their prices and quality cannot be beat. I have been a loyal patron of Sym's ever since I discovered them in the 1990s. If you are looking for a suit, a sportscoat, a blazer, a necktie, a dress shirt, or a pair of shoes to go with that outfit. They are having their big Thanksgiving sale now too.

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November 25, 2008

A Christmas Shopping Solution for Tight Times

Christmas shopping season is here -- Black Friday, the traditional first day of the season, is this Friday -- and it can be a time of financial anxiety for those who are short on resources.
If you come from a fairly large extended family, with lots of brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, Christmas shopping can be financially daunting. There is a solution: at Thanksgiving dinner, when everyone is gathered, get everyone agree to a Secret Santa name drawing. Everyone writes their name on a slip of paper and indicates what they would like as a gift, in a previously agreed upon price range of $25, $50, or whatever. Then all the slips of paper are dropped into a hat (does anyone except me actually wear hats these days?) and each person draws one name. Then, the only gift anyone has to buy is that one gift for that one person. The entire family agrees to it, and it is a way to share the joy of giving without breaking the bank, among family members.
I know in my own family, I have enough nieces and nephews to staff a naval ship.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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A Bit About Bridgeport's Charlie the Bum

It's Thanksgiving week, and we are reading a lot about homeless people, soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and the like.
But years ago, long before there was such a term as "homeless," there were hobos, and the king of the hobos in Bridgeport was Charlie DiStasio, a.k.a Charlie the Bum.
Charlie used to bundle up in several heavy wool coats and sleep on the concrete floors of factory buildings like Metro truck bodies in the cold winter nights; they let him in to sleep on the floor. Junkyards would let him sleep in old cars being mined for parts that were stockpiled around back.
At delis, like Altieri's on Hamilton Street, with its big brick ovens, customers would never want the ends of the deli meats, just like some people don't like to eat the end of a loaf of bread, so the deli would give Charlie the ends, with a loaf of bread, day-old perhaps, and he would make a big sandwich out of it.
Charlie the Bum never panhandled, never asked anyone for money. But they would look at him, and see he was a bum, and perhaps even know him as Charlie the Bum, and give him money. Perhaps they knew his personal story, how he was supposedly a gifted violinist whose heart was broken in love and turned hobo. I don't know if that's true but it is a romantic angle. He died in 1965 when I was 6-years-old, and I remember my father handing me dollar bills as he pulled the car over to the curb and sent me out to give money to Charlie.
To see Charlie the Bum coming your way was not the same as today when panhandlers approach you on the street. While Charlie never asked for money, I have seen panhandlers of today actually try to negotiate. They ask you for a dollar, and when you pull out your wallet they try to negotiate for more!
"Do the best you can," one panhandler said to me, as if he were a TV telethon fundraiser appealing for donations.
-- TONY SPINELLI

ADDENDUM: Another Bridgeport hobo of note was Ernie the Pirate, also known as Walt the Pirate, who lived on a dilapidated old houseboat anchored on the Yellow Mill River. He built a ramshackle dock out of scrap wood so he could walk to the river's shore. He was a one-armed man, a veteran of World War II whose arm had been lost in combat, as the story goes, and he reportedly collected a check from the government at the post office each month, where he kept a post office box since he had no formal address, while he lived cheaply on his houseboat, heating it in the winter with a portable unit. He carried a throwing knife in his belt, to defend himself but only scared people off; he never actually hurt anyone. As much of a hobo as he was, living on an upriver houseboat that the legal authorities would probably not even allow in today's day and age, he did not lack for companionship: he had a live-in girlfriend, a rail-thin hobo woman who was known as Gravel Gertie. If anyone has archival photographs of Ernie the Pirate and his girlfriend Gravel Gertie please email them and I will try to post them here.

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November 24, 2008

TV Dancing Shows A Turnoff

I was just watching a TV talk show that showed some clips from "Dancing With the Stars," which is one of the most popular shows on TV these days, and at the same time, a show that disagrees with me on almost every level.
In another words, I avoid it.
To me, dancing is supposed to be simple and Democratic, a thing of the people. It shouldn't be something you have to go to school for and train like an athlete to do. Dancing is supposed to be a community thing, like friends dancing together or families dancing together. It is not supposed to be a competitive sport in which the objective is to blow all the other dancers away.
There's a place for competition: it's called a football field. Leave the dance floor to the people, that's my opinion.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 23, 2008

Thanksgiving: A Good Time To Help

I was shocked the other day when I videotaped a visit to the King's Pantry food pantry ministry in Bridgeport, which serves meals to poor and otherwise needy individuals and families, and saw that the cupboard was literally bare.
They figured that because of the recession, kind people who normally give have cut back on donations. There isn't as much food, and certainly not as much cash, coming in to feed the needy, especially at Thanksgiving. Byron Crosdale, the food ministry director for the Greater Bridgeport Council of Churches, told me 2008 has been the worst year for food pantry donations.
There is only so much one person can do, but this weekend I did what I could: I made some donations to charities like the Salvation Army, and gave money to a fellow who was begging to buy food on a cold Sunday night, in the parking lot of Walgreen's downtown, where I had stopped to buy a few 12-packs of diet root beer on sale for half price.
"Sir, I haven't had a meal since I went to this church where they were having a breakfast. All I have is my faith in the Lord. I am homeless. Could you give me money to go to McDonald's down the street?" he asked.
He looked to be about 30-years-old. It was very cold and he had bundles of wrinkly shirts on beneath a beat-up old coat olive green military fatigue coat. He wore a knit cap and had a stubble of beard like he hadn't shaved in a few weeks. I don't know how he came to be in such a condition, but I didn't ask. I pulled out my wallet and handed him some cash. "You need this more than I do fella," I told him.
It made me think of something that's been on my mind a long time: if you want to help some poor and hungry people, you don't need to send your money overseas to some far-off country like you see on the TV infommercials. There are plenty of hungry people in our own American communities.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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President-Elect Barack Obama In Astrology

Back in September, I asked Laura Lenhard, owner of Talisman -- A Unique New-Age Store at 150 Main Street in Monroe, to put together an astrological profile of the presidential candidates based on their birthdate information, and she happily obliged.
The blog originally appeared on Oct. 3, more than a month before the election, but I thought it would be a good idea to recap the summary of Barack Obama, since he is now the president elect.
So here goes:
Birthdate: Aug. 4, 1961.
Sign: Leo, the lion. A fire sign.
Traits: Intensely individual and a natural leader. Extremely important to him to do something well and be respected for it.
Summary: Obama will take great pride in always putting his best foot forward as Chief Commanding Officer, and would absolutely hate to be viewed as unprepared or unpolished. He likes to be in charge and is a catalyst for change, but doesn't share the leading role easily. He has Aquarius rising, so he is seen as a humanitarian -- someone interested in humanity as a whole who clearly sees the vision of global community. A moon in Gemini has him shrinking from drama -- he would much rather settle differences by talking things out reasonably and rationally. He has difficulty "taking the gloves off" and can give the impression of lacking passion and being unemotional.
Special thanks to Laura for this astrological insight into our president elect.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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The Roaring '20s and Swinging '30s Remembered

I was clearing off my desk this afternoon and came across a copy of an old photograph, probably from the 1920s or 1930s, depicting the Columbia Records factory in Bridgeport. It reminded me of a few things.
Records were made of carbon and shellac in those days, highly breakable, and they played at a superfast 78 r.p.m., on a monaural player with a huge tone arm tipped with a steel needle. It was low-tech, and it was rough, but when you listen to old records made in those decades it is obvious there was some phenomenal musical talent: I have spent lots of time listening to old records by Louis Armstrong from the '20s, and by swing bands like Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, from the '30s.
The records don't have the terrific high-quality stereo sound we enjoy in modern times, though. Rechanneling them through modern equipment really doesn't help much either, because they didn't have the luxury of $7,000 Neumann full-spectrum microphones in those days and the source material is limited. To appreciate vintage music, you have to have a taste for nostalgia, because the old recordings sound rather thin and even tinny to a modern ear used to hearing amped-up bass and full tonal reproduction.
It makes me wonder how Benny Goodman and his orchestra would sound if they were around today, with modern, high-fidelity recording requipment. I am sure it would be phenomenal.
It's true that musicians today can play the old stuff and make records of it, and some artists have made careers out of that, but the spirit of those times is missing from the mix. Dixieland today has a different connotation for the listener and the player than it did in the Jazz Age.
So if you come across some old 78s, made in Bridgeport or otherwise, give them a spin. They may contain the essence of an age.
-- TONY SPINELLI

ADDENDUM: When I was married and had bought a home, in 1991, there was an old 78 r.p.m. wind-up record player, a big one, in the garage. My wife urged me to get rid of it, so I gave it free of charge to a guy who collected them and had a pickup truck to come get it. "Are you sure you don't want money for this? You could sell it," he said.
But I knew, and he knew, that the collecting world is one where things are only valuable when you're buying them or getting them appraised for insurance purposes. Try to sell them to a broker and they suddenly become as worthless as used confetti.
"Just give it a good home," I told him.

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Recession Spurs Patriotic Drinks

For years, Americans have made icons of imported drinks like Mexican Corona beer and Scottish single malt Scotch like Glenlivet, or even blended Scotch like Johnnie Walker Black.
But now that the worst economic climate since the Great Depression has taken hold, many Americans cannot afford expensive imported drinks. So they are switching to inexpensive American brands.
Old Crow Kentucky bourbon, at about $20 for a half gallon, is an enormous bargain that is selling strongly these days, some liquor shop owners told me last week, when I was interviewing them for a newsvideo on the economic fallout in the liquor business. It is patriotic because bourbon is a drink that is unique to the United States. Bourbon has a distinctive sweet overtone, picked up from the caramelized wood sugars that are imparted from aging in charred oak barrels. (In other words, it has an interesting flavor that makes it a good sipping drink.)
In beer, Miller High Life sales are reportedly up. Miller is one of the lowest priced brands of beer, at about $4.50 for a six-pack compared with $8.25 or so for Mexican Corona, but you have to ask yourself, is Corona really all that much better than Miller that it should cost twice as much? And Miller, made in Milwaukee as a true American pilsner -- not as dark and dense as European beers -- is a patriotic statement if ever there was one.
So the good news for the American economy is that these American products are doing well in the recession, with the brewers and distillers probably adding jobs. For the long run, today's economic circumstances are reintroducing people to our native drinks, which may have been overlooked in years past.
-- TONY SPINELLI

ADDENDUM: From my perspective as a reporter who has covered a lot of drunk driving crashes, please remember to drink responsibly. If you drink, drink only in moderation. And if you drink don't drive. Happy Thanksgiving!

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November 21, 2008

How To Carve Turkey With Little Or No Waste

If you buy a turkey on sale, it is actually an economical meat. You can have leftovers for days, including that lunchtime favorite, turkey salad. (Put that on a fresh Portugeuse roll and you've got a great sandwich.) Plus, roasting a turkey, even a small one, fills the house with a delicious aroma that is very welcoming in these cold months .But some single guys, and gals, and couples, don't like roasting a small turkey just for themselves because so much seems to go to waste.
That's where proper carving comes in. I asked cookbook author Alison Boteler of Black Rock to demonstrate the proper way of carving a Thanksgiving turkey, and she was glad to oblige.
+First let the meat cool at least an hour. It cuts much easier when it is cool.
+First cut off the drumstick and thigh as one piecer; then sever the drumstick at the joint, remove the thigh bone from the thigh, and cut the thigh meat across the grain.
+Second, slice the wing from the body.
+Third, slice the breast meat in one solid piece, by cutting along one side of the breastbone. Then slice the breastmeat in chunks, across the grain.
+Fourth, remove the stuffing. Remember to prepare the stuffing ahead of time and let it chill the night before placing it into the turkey.
+Repeat the first three steps on the other side of the turkey.
+Serve on a platter.
Thanks go to Alison for sharing this valuable information with us. Her latest book is "Cooking With Wine," and her next book to be published, in January, is "The Gourmet Guide To Cooking With Beer." Look for two videos with Alison here at ConnPost.com: one on turkey carving, and another on how to make cranberry sauce.
Happy Thanksgiving to us all despite this tough recession!
-- TONY SPINELLI

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The Proper Way To Enjoy Beaujolais Nouveau

I am no stranger to Beaujolais Nouveau, which of course is well-known around the world as the first wine of the year's grape harvest made available in liquor stores. I usually buy it every year for Thanksgiving.
But not everyone is wise to the ways of Beaujolais. I gulped a glass of nouveau with great enthusiasm Thursday at the Wine Emporium in Shelton, and a well-dressed lady nearby gasped at me in horror as if I were the most gauche (slang for lacking class) character in her world.
But I was correct in the way I drank the Beaujolais. The wine's negociant, Georges Dubeuf,
makes it clear in his information on the Web that Beaujolais is not like a fine, aged wine, that must be sipped and savored for its complexities. Rather, he recommends that it be chilled and gulped heartily on festive occasions.
Why? Because Beajuolais is pressed after only three days, and lacks the phenolic compounds like astringent tannins that are normally found in red wines. This makes the Beaujolais light, fruity and easy to drink. It's a French wine you would like if you usually enjoy Spanish sangria.
So go ahead and put your Beaujolais in the refrigerator and drink it nice and cold. Take a big gulp and don't worry about rolling it on your tongue.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 20, 2008

Beaujolais Nouveau, Vin De Primeur, Arrives

Today was Beaujolais Nouveau Day, a day celebrated around the world with the much-anticipated tasting of the very first wine from the year's grape harvest.
I tasted the Beaujolais Nouveau, so-called because it is from Beaujolais in the Burgandy region of France, at The Wine Emporium at 702 Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton, together with Gail Gorlo, the shop's owner, and Donnie Dennis of Torrington, who works in Trumbull and stopped in to buy wine.
For years, I have always bought Beaujolais Nouveau to have with Thanksgiving dinner, since it's light and fruity flavor goes well with roasted turkey and the wine itself is symbolic of the year.
If you've never tried Beaujolais, give it a spin. It is bottled after two weeks of fermentation so it lacks the complexities of mature and aged wines, but it has a festive quality.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 19, 2008

Goodwill Locations Updated

If you Google up Goodwill Industries locations in Southern Connecticut, you get an outdated list, for some reason. Dorothy Viets, the spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut, gave me a tour of the organization's headquarters on Ocean Terrace in Bridgeport's Black Rock section today, and I promised her I would try to help get the word out on where the local Goodwill facilities are.
So here goes:
Goodwill Stores/165 Ocean Terrace, Bridgeport; 321 Boston Post Road, Milford; 574 Monroe Turnpike, Monroe; 15 Cross Street, Norwalk; 829 Lakewood Road, Waterbury; 1572 Post Road East, Westport; 1 West Broad Street, Stamford. There are others in far-off towns including Glastonbury and Torrington as well, but they are not local so there's no point in listing the addresses.
Donation Only Centers/1 Rod Highway, off Reef Road, Fairfield; Holly Hill Lane Recycling Center, Greenwich; Water Street Train Station, Naugatuck; Ethan Allen Road Landfill, Newtown; 84 Hope Well Woods Road Recycling Center, Redding; 200 Leavenworth Road, Shelton; Kettletown Road Transfer Station, Southbury; Burlington Coat Factory parking lot, Barnum Avenue Cut-off, Stratford. There are others in far-off locations like Glastonbury, as well, so there's no point listing them.

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November 17, 2008

Superstition Expressed In Architecture

I was videotaping at one of the office towers in downtown Bridgeport, and couldn't help but notice that the elevator had no marking for a 13th floor.
I double-checked it, and sure enough, the floors jumped from 12 to 14. There indeed was no 13th floor marked on the elevator.
I pointed it out to a woman who got onboard at the sixth floor.
"You know, I've worked here for years and I never noticed that," she said.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Welcome to the Information Age

I was out doing some shopping Sunday, and had the car radio tuned to a classical music station. The music that was playing was "Nimrod," the 9th variation in the "Enigma Variations" by Edward Elgar. The disc jockey, though, displayed a lack of knowledge for which there is no excuse in this age of instant information.
"I have no idea who Nimrod may have been, but it is good music," the disc jockey said.
All it takes is a few keystrokes on a computer keyboard to find out who Nimrod was, or, what the name represents symbolically. I even did a Google images search on the word and came up with photographs of things that go by the name Nimrod.
Of course, not all information is available on the Web, probably because nobody bothered to put it there, but in general, If you want to know something, or what something means, just Google it.
Wikipedia, I know, is not to be used as an official source of information by journalists because some of the facts may be unverified but I have found it is quite useful in its expansive range of topics covered -- something a traditional printed encyclopedia could not do.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 16, 2008

Why A Name Change For Went Field Matters

Bridgeport is a city rich with history, but it can only be capitalized upon if people are aware of it.
That's the problem at Went Field, a large park on the corner of Wordin and Railroad avenues in the West End. Phineas Taylor Barnum, the city's most famous resident and former mayor, had owned that land and made it the winter headquarters for his circus beginning in 1880. The place remained the winter headquarters of the circus until 1927, when the Ringlings moved it to Sarasota, Fla., where it remains today.
The problem is, few people know that. Not even people who grew up in the West End and played at Went Field, like my mother, were aware until the article appeared in today's Connecticut Post and the newsvideo appeared online that for nearly 50 years, the most famous circus in the world was headquartered there. Jumbo, the giant elephant, probably the most famous animal in the world, had called the place home.
And there is nothing to remind anyone of it. Not a plaque. Not a statue. Not a sign. It is not even named after Barnum or his circus. It is almost like the city wanted to forget all that.
Mary Witkowski, Bridgeport's City Historian, is working to change that, to get the city to rename the field for the circus, and I hope she gets her way. It's sad, sort of like how the only thing that remains of Barnum's mansion at Seaside Park, Marina, is an iron gate that few people even know exists.
--- TONY SPINELLI

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November 14, 2008

Sarah Palin Gets Relief

News broke last week that Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed figure from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign saying that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country, rather than a continent.
People laughed about it and bloggers blogged about it, in the spirit of portraying Palin as an airhead, but I didn't: I believe it is bad form to kick somebody when they are down. She had already lost the election and that was bad enough for her. I like to laugh, but not at somebody's expense. Now I'm glad I followed that old code of chivalry and did not join the fray.
It is now being reported that the Palin/Africa misconception was a farce -- a phony news item planted in the media -- and one that was so well-played that it duped MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times and the New Republic.
MSNBC quickly corrected it's mistake.
-- TONY SPINELLI

ADDENDUM: It reminded of the time when a comedian faked his own obituary and got the New York Times to print it. He sent it to Telegram, (a forerunner of the Connecticut Post) as well. I was the obituary writer at the time and did not use the obit claiming the comedian's death because it had not come from a reputable source, meaning, a funeral home that could be called to confirm arrangements. It looked very suspicious to me. The NYT fell for it though, and the comedian made them look like fools for falling for his prank.

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November 13, 2008

Really Old School R&B

Any day of the week, you can tune to Sirius/XM satellite radio and hear the Old School R&B channel, playing the music of 1970s groups like Al Green.
But for really old school R&B, you have to go back further. The harmony vocal style of R&B (that became Doo Wop in the 1950s) goes back to at least the late 1930s, and certainly the 1940s. The R&B music of the 1940s, including vocal harmony, jump blues and boogie, eventually merged with country music and became rock n' roll. Just ask Paul Timpanelli, president of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council.
Timpanelli has been a longtime member of a Doo Wop group, and is writing a history book on the subject of early rock.
So when you tune in to a Classic Rock station with music from the 1970s, keep in mind that rock n' roll has been around a lot longer than that.
"I like to think of Doo Wop as Vintage Rock," Timpanelli said.
I had to smile when Timpanelli told me he was writing a book on that subject, because I'm no stranger to vintage R&B. Actually, I had prepared a mix tape of vintage R&B records from the '40s and '50s to play at my 40th birthday party back in 1999, to have something different, and most of the people at the party didn't have a clue what kind of music it was and had never even heard it before. Songs like "One Mint Julep" and "What Is the Matter Now."
My nephew, Gary, was playing in an alternative garage band at the time and couldn't believe that what he was hearing was even classified as rock roots.
And that of course is one of the things that a book like Timpanelli's can explain.
See Timpanelli's vocal group, Yesteryear, in which he is the bass-baritone, Friday night Nov. 14 at Angelo's, the former Testo's, on Madison Avenue in Bridgeport.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Cheap Fuel Is Key In U.S.A.

All three American car manufacturers, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, are on the ropes, only several months from bankruptcy.
The reason: gasoline became too expensive for too long and the big SUVS, pickup trucks and other American vehicles that were wildly popular since the 1990s went out of favor overnight.
What this shows is that cheap fuel is one of the keys to the American economy. I tried to discuss that point with a couple of economists last spring and they insisted that fuel prices were on an upward trend and we had to learn to live with them, like Europeans. But we are not like Europe, where people gladly pay nearly $10 a gallon for fuel and it seems to have no ill effect; they just drive less and buy tiny cars, if any. We are Americans, and when fuel is too expensive, it seriously messes with our entire economy and even our sense of personal freedom.
That's why we should all wish our president-elect, Barack Obama, the best of luck in working out the energy independence/alternative energy equation, because this country needs it badly. Expensive fuel is one of the factors that has driven us to the edge of the steepest economic cliff since the Great Depression. It is no secret that when people are struggling to buy gasoline and pay their heating bill, they rob Peter to pay Paul and probably fall behind in paying their debts; so not only do we have a high fuel cost crisis, we have a debt default crisis.
I hope our new president and his team remember that independence and alternatives are good, but the real heart and bones of the issue is to make fuel cheap.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 11, 2008

Christmas Tree Already Decorated At J.C. Penney's

I was in Milford this morning to videotape an interview with Wanda Hornack, the last known surviving penny candy store operator in Southern Connecticut, so while I was in town I stopped by J.C. Penney's at the mall to check out the big sale I had seen advertised in the Connecticut Post.
While I was in the men's department, checking out whether any of the deeply discounted items were my size, I noticed a nicely decorated Christmas tree, the first I've seen this year.
It means we are getting there -- into the Christmas season, which of course begins this Saturday, for the Orthodox. That is the first day of Orthodox Advent, which lasts 40 days on the Julian calendar, rather than four weeks starting Nov. 30 for Catholics and Anglicans.
So let's wish each other the best. We've seen some hard times before, and like Wanda Hornack, who started selling candy during the Great Depression, we know things eventually get better.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Wanda the Candy Store Lady Has Your Stuff

If Halloween left you empty-handed, a little short on your favorites, then you owe it to yourself to go to downtown Milford and check out Wanda's Sugar Shack, in a shopping center just behind Dunkin' Donuts on Broad Street.
Wanda Hornak, the longtime owner, has every type of penny candy you can think of, plus her own line of really good homemade chocolates.
I have to admit, for Halloween I didn't get any of the Hershey's with almonds or the nut cluster chocolates like Turtles that I favor, so when I saw Wanda's collection of chocolates, chocolates with nuts and white chocolate, I felt like maybe I could make up for what I missed at Halloween.
I brought some back to the newsroom, and Wanda's chocolates hit the spot faster than a laser-guided missile.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 10, 2008

A Comedic Moment

I was interviewing a woman about the club she belonged to, and had her stand in a certain light. I adjusted my camera angle to be at her eye level, and handed her a microphone so that I would get the best audio quality on her.
When the video appeared online, she was surprised.
"I didn't realize I was being taped!," she said.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 8, 2008

Credit Them For Keeping Up With the Times

The U.S. is increasingly becoming a cashless society, with people paying for their purchases with debit cards. There are some businesses, though, that refuse to keep up with the times, as if maybe things will stay the way they used to be if they resist hard enough, and I bumped into one of them this afternoon.
I was in Ansonia, dropping off some donations at the local charity thrift shop, and decided to stop by the best pizza place in Ansonia that I know of, to bring a sausage pie home for dinner. But the girl at the counter stopped me in my tracks when she told me they don't take debit cards.
"There's a convenience store a couple of blocks down the street, you can go in there and use the ATM machine to get cash," the girl told me. But there is no way I would do that -- it would be incomprehensibly rude to walk into a convenience store just to use the ATM and not buy anything. There is a slang word in Italian for that kind of behavior: scumbadi.
So rather than risk being scumbadi, I drove to Seymour, where I live, and stopped by First Street Apizza to get that sausage pie. First Street takes debit cards, and I thanked them for keeping up with the times, because time and tide wait for no man.
I should also thank them at First Street for making a truly excellent New Haven-style (thin crust) pie. Check them out when you're in Seymour.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 7, 2008

Magical Christmas Shopping At Barnum Museum

As you know from reading this blog, I have since I was a boy enjoyed magic as a hobby -- I am not out to perform at a nightclub or try to be like David Blaine or anything, but I have been known to entertain friends and family with apparatus like Chinese Linking Rings, Chinese Temple Screen, etc. (One of these days I'm going to perform in front of a videocamera and put it on YouTube.)
So I was really excited today when I noticed some unusually good-looking and reasonably priced magic gift sets at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport. They looked much better than the usual so I promised Kathy Maher, director of the museum, I would mention it.
So there you are: if your kids are interested in magic, do some Christmas shopping at the Barnum Museum, before the kits disappear.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Bridgeport Was Headquarters For Buffalo Bill

I was researching Bridgeport's Went Field, which of course was the site of the winter headquarters of the Barnum and Bailey Circus for 50 years, for an upcoming mini-documentary on how Bridgeport's West End was the home of the circus and all its 1,400 or so performers from 1880 to 1926. Phineas Taylor Barnum, who died in 1891, got a kick out of inviting celebrities to visit Bridgeport in the winter so he could show them his famous giant elephant, Jumbo, and 40 other elephants.
That's fascinating enough, but in the course of researching Went Field, I came across some fascinating information that I had never once heard while growing up in Bridgeport: Went Field in 1900 was also the headquarters of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
It was no mistake in a history book. I actually saw an old photograph postcard from 1900 showing Western wagons at Went Field, next to a warehouse clearly marked with the words, "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show."
It is remarkable that this awesome bit of Bridgeport history has pretty much gone unnoticed.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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First Christmas Songs Of 2008 Heard At Walmart

I was at Walmart in Derby this morning, picking up a few things, when I heard the first Christmas song to be played over an in-store music system in 2008: it was "Silent Night," by Frank Sinatra.
Thanksgiving Day is just shy of three weeks away, but there it was -- the sound of the Christmas shopping season.
The second song of Christmas I heard there was "Adeste Fideles" by Bing Crosby.
That's okay with me, as long as they don't play "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart," or "Do They Know It's Christmas Time At All," from the 80s, because if they do I am going to scream.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 6, 2008

Get Cracking With Low-Priced Lobster

Lobster has been an expensive seafood for many years but the downturn in the economy and other factors have brought the price down to its lowest point in years. At the Bridgeport Lobster and Shellfish market on Knowlton Street on the east side today, where I was videotaping a rare orange lobster, the going price for whole lobster was $4.99 -- making a lobster dinner at home less than the price of a McDonald's meal, as unbelievable as that may seem.
However, there are two things that stop some people from eating lobster at home: one of which is they do not want to inflict a painful death by boiling alive on a creature. That's where a little biology comes in handy. As amazing as it seems, lobsters have no centralized nervous system and actually feel very little, if any, pain. This is what allows them to amputate their own bodyparts to escape danger. Sometimes, lobsters drop a claw for no good reason at all, and are none the worse for wear for it. They are a rare type of animal that can generate new bodyparts -- that's right, they will simply grow a new antennae, or a new leg or claw. They are not like the animals we are familiar with, to say the least.
So, you don't have to feel guilty.
The second thing that prevents people from eating lobster at home is that they don't know how to get at the meat through the hard shell, or what parts to eat. It seems like a lot of work for only a little food.
But, as I learned in Massachusetts at the Gloucester House, a restaurant that specializes in lobster, what you need are some tools, either a lobster cracker or a pair of kitchen shears.
The only parts of the lobster you eat are the claws and the tail. Some people like to nibble on legs, or whatever, but most people simply eat only the claws and the tail. The rest of the lobster is more or less a decoration, like the lobster head you find on a plate of Portugeuse Paiella.
+To remove the claw, grasp it at the knuckle, near the body, and twist firmly. Then cut through the shell with your shears to get at the meat.
+To remove the tail, hold the body in one hand, grasp the tail in the other, twist firmly and gently pull the tail away. Shear the tail in half, lengthwise, starting from underneath.
I hope that's good information to start with.
Good side dishes when eating boiled lobster are melted butter, which is used for dipping, and baked potatoes, which you can pour melted butter on as well. Corn, or corn on-the-cob, in which you can use that melted butter yet again, is also a good side dish.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 5, 2008

A Night On the New Media Frontier

There were about 9 radio reporters, 11 TV news crews, and 20 or so newspaper reporters and photographers in attendance Tuesday night at the Chris Shays Election Night event at the Norwalk Inn. But as far as I could see, I was the only newsvideo reporter from a newsweb organization.
My assignment for ConnPost.com was to capture the complete speech by Chris Shays as he conceded; the speech ran just more than five minutes.
The TV news guys, with their $70,000 cameras, wireless mics, $20,000 tripods and other TV equipment looked at me with curiousity. Some of them had never worked the same room with a newsvideo reporter from a newsweb organization.
"Are you from a cable public access show?," one of the TV guys, from a cable news station based in Boston, asked me.
"No, I'm from the Web. ConnPost.com. The Web site of the Connecticut Post," I told him.
He gave me a blank expression that said it all: he was not aware that newspapers make videos for their Web sites. He confessed he had never once in his life seen a newsvideo by the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, or any daily newspaper.
The TV guy next to him was just as baffled.
"What do you do, make home videos?," he asked.
I almost laughed.
"No, these are newsvideos. You've never seen one either?," I asked him.
He admitted that he hadn't.
I realized right then that I must be some kind of new media pioneer, because in all truth, I've been watching and studying newsvideos for several years, long before I had the job of making newsvideos. I was fascinated by this new form of American journalism and personally have adapted the Associated Press style of newsvideo, which is to say, narrating a script over a story in which the video illustrates what the script is saying, and of course using interview segments. I also frequently use documentary television techniques such as musical soundtrack mixes and even sound effects.
It is a new art form, and one I am very happy to be involved in -- even if more than half the people I meet don't have a clue about it.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 4, 2008

Last Coffee With Chris Shays

MarianGail Brown and I were assigned to cover Chris Shays at the Norwalk Inn at 8 p.m.; we were enjoying the Connecticut Post election night pizza dinner when Marian's cell phone rang. It was Chris Shays' people, urging us to hurry to Norwalk in 15 minutes because a major announcement was going to be made.
I dropped the pizza -- not easy to do when you're hungry from poll hopping all day -- and drove as fast as I could from downtown Bridgeport to East Norwalk, making it there just after 7 p.m. Shays didn't speak, but he sent out his trencherman who told us it was a tough battle and it was possible we would not know the results for some time.
I settled in on a riser, where 12 television and video cameras were set up, and jockeyed for the best camera position possible, elbow to elbow with the other cameramen. My hands were too full of equipment and my elbows too cramped for room to actually sit down and eat any of the food that was brought out and offered to everyone, including the reporters, but I did drink some coffee.
I sipped the black coffee and watched the electronic scoreboard roll out the latest campaign figures as results came in from throughout the district. First it seemed like Shays would win, because he was ahead by thousands; his supporters in the room smiled like they had a few million in the bank. (They probably did.)
But by the second cup of coffee, the score started to change and Jim Himes took the lead. The lead got stronger by the minute, and as I took my last sip, I knew it was over for Shays and he would be out at the podium at any minute to concede.
Sure enough, he appeared at the back of the room and made his way through the crowd to the microphone. I thought back at all the events I had covered through the years, where Shays was a speaker or a guest. He had held on to his office for decades.
It was hard to believe, but the Shays era was over.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Sarah Palin Still the Star For Action Figure Maker

Emil Vicale, president of herobuilders.com, the Oxford-based action figure company that has been selling Sarah Palin action figures for about $30, remains convinced Palin will carry the election tonight for Sen. John McCain.
Sales of the Palin action figures are off the charts, he said, and from previous experience with elections that means she has the popular vote, no matter that the polls and surveys have indicated Sen. Obama has the lead.
"I have no doubt," Vicale said.
The toymaker said he is already prepared to roll out a Vice Presidential Sarah Palin action figure. In the meantime, his Joe the Plumber and Joe Biden action figures hit the market later this week.
Check herobuilders.com for the full product line.
-- TONY SPINELLI

ADDENDUM: When this election is wrapped up, I'm sure we're all going to miss Saturday Night Live -- that show has had its highest ratings since who-knows-when this campaign season with its lively characterizations of the candidates. Tina Fey's portrayal of Palin, in particular, has been remarkable and has been drawing viewers like moths to a wool suit.

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Election Day At the Polls

It's a good thing I wrote that story and made that newsvideo about how the new paper ballot method of voting works. I had a reporter's hunch that a lot of new voters would be unfamiliar with paper ballots, which have only been around one or two years in Connecticut, and from the looks of the scene at the polling place today I was correct.
"How do you do this?," a guy of about 60, wearing a denim jacket and a baseball cap, asked one of the poll workers when they handed him his paper ballot.
"What are these questions all about?," he asked, shocked by the number of questions on the ballot, for things like Constitutional Conventions.
The poll worker gave him the party line.
"If you don't know what it is just leave it blank," the worker told him.
The guy was out of there faster than Usain Bolt on Starbucks because there were probably more questions to be filled out than there were candidates running for office.

++++++

At the tabulation machine, I was ready to slip my completed ballot into the slot on top when I noticed a woman gesturing with her hand, widely, to my right. I thought she wanted me to hand her the paper folder that my ballot had been hidden in.
"What's this?," she said, when I placed the folder in her hand.
"I thought you wanted my folder," I told her.
Her friend laughed. "No, she's just talking with her hands!" she said.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 3, 2008

An Indicator of Recession: People Drinking Cheaper

I had a reporter's hunch that the economic downturn was showing itself at liquor stores, so I checked with a couple and found out that sure enough, sales of expensive liquor has dropped sharply.
People are still drinking though -- they are just switching to cheaper brands and cheaper products.
The emphasis at this point is to get more for the money, rather than to ratchet up to the highest quality. For example, a reliable old six-pack of Miller High Life, as American a beer as you can get, is roughly half the price of a six-pack of Mexican Corona, which is the most popular imported beer.
In my opinion, Corona certainly tastes great but it doesn't taste so much better than Miller High Life that it should be twice the price. Besides, I feel patriotic when I drink an American product like Miller.
The liquor stores get socked during an economic downturn nonetheless, though, because there is less of a profit margin on beer than there is on big-spender items like bourbon, Scotch and cognac.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 2, 2008

The Comedy of Medical Care

My cold had raged for a week and turned into bronchitus, so it was time to go to the doctor and get some antibiotics. Only it was Sunday, and the only doctor open was the walk-in medical clinic.
So, I decided to call the clinic and find out over the telephone whether they are a member of my insurance and are in-network.
"Hang on for a minute, let me look that up," the girl at the end of the phone said. And despite having asked me a series of questions that stretched from here to Hong Kong, she said she was not able to tell me whether her clinic was in-network or not. "We'll find out when you get here!," she said, like it was a game of chance.
It matters because if it is out-of-network, it costs a small fortune that would be enough to free a captive cargo ship from Somalian pirates.
"Well, you should call the customer service number on your card and find that out," she said, acting as if she did that all the time and knew exactly what worked and what didn't.
But she was bluffing, just to get me off the line. When I called the customer service line, I found out one of the few types of information the computer DOES NOT dish out for you over the telephone is whether the doctor you are interested in is in the network or not. The computer message's advice: "check with your doctor first to determine if they are in the network!"
-- TONY SPINELLI

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November 1, 2008

Weather Clear For Elections Tuesday

When it rains on Election Day, as any reporter who has covered elections will tell you, it dampens spirits and actually keeps many Americans from the polls. Low voter turnout has been a problem for decades in the U.S., particularly for local elections and local issues, and a rainy day convinces lots of people to forego the whole voting process and just let the chips fall where they may in a pessimistic mindset that nothing will change anyway.
That is not likely to happen Tuesday though: forecasts call for a nice day, for once. Whether you're voting for Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama, or a third party candidate, the weather should be cooperative.
-- TONY SPINELLI

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Killer Apps: It's What Makes New Tech Hot

Whenever new technology comes along, the thing it needs to set it apart from all the other new gadgets with bells and whistles is a killer application: something that is so phenomenally useful to people, the technology takes on an aura of indispensibility that makes us wonder how we lived without it.
So it is with mp3 players. I use them constantly, and in many ways. One way is that by using mp3 software, you can digitize your old LP collection (plug the turntable into the computer) that you never got rid of and listen to the albums in digital file form in your car while you commute, getting tons more use and enjoyment out of them than you ever imagined when you bought them back in the analog era. Using mp3 software, you can "rip" the tracks from your CDs and play those on your mp3 player as well, without ever scratching up an actual CD, storebought or home-burnt, which have a way of getting as scratched-up as a hockey rink in need of a Zamboni the minute you bring them into your car.
So the mp3 player is the technology, and the mp3 software is the killer app that makes it indispensible.
Here at ConnPost.com, we have a few of our own killer apps. When you watch a newsvideo, you have the ability to share it by email with your friends and family, which of course makes newsvideo all that much more attractive. You can also link it to your blog or your newsgroup. It allows you to share the news of your son's victory on the gridiron, digitally, instantly with all your family on your email list. We love it, of course, because it helps to generate traffic which makes our advertisers happy and keeps us in business.
What's your favorite killer app in today's techno-scape? I'd like to know.
-- TONY SPINELLI

ADDENDUM: The mp4 player, which plays movies and videos, is a nifty little gadget but so far, I haven't met anyone who owns one who is also familiar with mp4 encoding software, or how to go about converting a DVD or video clip to mp4 format. If you wanted to bring a movie with you to watch on the train, you would probably do just as well to watch a DVD on your laptop than watch a handheld small-screen mp4 player.

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