Andrea and Matteo Boccelli (father and son), have just released an album together. Here is the lead single….so powerful….. I’ve recently lost a dear friend who died suddenly, and this brings some comfort…. Read more

There was a special exhibit at the Natural History Museum entitled Unseen Oceans. It’s focus was mainly on plant and critter life in the very depths of the ocean which we normally never see. Of course one can do many other things in NY, go to Times Square… wait for the ball to drop…. It’s a long wait if you are there in October! You can go out and see the bright lights day or night in Times Square… But… Read more

There is a whole floor of this museum where the natives are restless…. and I don’t just mean Native Americans, though there are plenty of those here, but also native trips from the Orient, the Pacific, South America, but Africa and Indian are notable by their absence. A helpful map of where the various tribes were in early America. These two are Seminoles from Fla. A lodge… Comanche or Apache, not sure which. Of course it was Margaret Mead who… Read more

Undoubtedly, in the wake of some many Jurassic type movies, one of the more popular exhibits in the Natural History Museum is the dinosaur exhibits up on a high floor above the entrance. There are basically four floors plus the Hayden Planetarium, home of Neil Degrasse Tyson. Make no bones about it, they have a lot of dinosaurs. There are as well many exhibits of stuffed critters too… many of which look very dated and in need of resuscitation. While… Read more

My first stop on Sunday, after dropping my luggage at a hotel that wouldn’t let me check in in the morning, was the Natural History Museum on Central Park West…a tres expensive part of Manhattan. One of the first things I saw was what appeared to be a case of Dorthy with her ruby red shoes merged with Toto—- For the record, the dog did not say ‘there’s no place like home’ though it looked like it wanted to go… Read more

True confession— I could not afford to go see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway. The good tickets were more than a $1,000 more than going to Hamilton, and any way…. I’d rather see the most astounding musical perhaps ever. So…. after filming, filming, filming, I went to the Richard Rogers theater. And of course this show has gone through a variety of cast members now in its third plus years of being a huge hit, and so there were some tickets… Read more

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After the disaster that was 9/11/01, New Yorkers, and in general Americans, thought it important to not take that troubling event lying down, indeed, to come back stronger. Part of this involved building a pyramid shaped better Trade Tower on the bedrock called shist (say that carefully) at the end of Manhattan Island. What many will not know is that much of this island was manmade— out of landfill, and brought in soil and rock, even all the way from… Read more

As one gets older, the pleasures of life become, what shall we say, more attenuated? Anyway, food remains a big one even for the AARP crowd. You Hope for the best when you go out to eat at places you’ve never been before… So, here were a few of my culinary experiences whilst working in NY (filming for the History Channel). Firstly, how about a genuine Spanish restaurant (not to be confused with Mexican or Tex-Mex). I’m talking tapas, empanadas,… Read more

Here’s a fun blog post by former religion editor for Time Magazine Dick Ostling, now blogging his way into or in retirement. He correctly characterizes the three ring circus that is the SBL/AAR convention upcoming—– “Each year, thousands upon thousands of religion scholars assemble during the days preceding Thanksgiving for simultaneous conventions of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the professional counterpart for Scripture specialists, the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). This year, the two organizations gather November 17-20,… Read more