vic fortezza

How encouraging that so many Americans across the nation stood up for free speech by flocking to Chick-fil-A restaurants yesterday. Former Arkansas governor, current talk show host, Mike Huckabee suggested a national appreciation day. Kudos, although I suspect people would have have patronized the franchise spontaneously. I know I would have were there one in Brooklyn. The owner stands by his convictions, so steadfast in his beliefs as to keep the restaurants closed on Sundays, forgoing millions, if not billions in revenue. And it's been so much fun to see how apoplectic some leftists have become in their comments and tweets. They are merciless in their intolerance. Many would forgive violent criminals before they would those with religious conviction. By the way, as per usual in demonstrations by the right - no violence, no arrests, despite the crowds. Here's a pic of one venue: I've written nine novels, six still unpublished, and more than 50 short stories, only a few unpublished. I wasn't sure I had any fiction left in me. I had an idea floating around in my mind for a couple of weeks and finally got around to putting it to paper this morning. I always do the first few drafts in long hand, maybe because it feels more like writing than sitting at a computer does. The tentative title is Paradise Lost. It's about the first argument between a couple, 62 and 55, dating six months. It's been about two years since my previous story, Oblivious, which made...

I watched another of the music videotapes I made, this one circa 1996. In fact, there was a clip from Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve featuring Kiss doing I Wanna Rock n Roll All Night  just before the ball fell to usher in 1997. There were some fabulous babes stage side, as there were in a Doobies Brothers reunion broadcast on PBS. They did a smokin' version of Long Train Runnin' that went on a little long for my taste. Chicago appeared on The Tonight Show to promote their reunion tour, and tore it up on 25 or 6 to 4. There were four breakout artists on the tape: Beck doing Devil's Haircut on Leno, No Doubt doing Don't Speak on SNL, and Luscious Jackson doing Naked Eye and Republica doing Ready To Go, both on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, back in the days when I had the stamina to stay up to one-thirty AM just to tape a four minute performance. I'm not sure the latter two bands had any follow up hits, but both of those songs were fine. There were two clips of Elvis Costello, both from Late Show with David Letterman. Costello has always been a daring artist, delving into different forms. He teamed with Burt Bacharach on a standards-like song from an album they did together, and with Debbie Harry and the Jazz Messengers on a wonderful take of Don't You Go Away Mad. At the time, I had become interested in Jazz, and...

Some days the floating book shop is more fun than others. Such was the case this afternoon, even though I didn't make a lot of money. A woman introduced herself as Karen and said she'd seen the article about me in the Bay News. Her neighbor had also seen it and wondered if I wanted books he'd attempted to donate to the library and been turned down. I said yes and told her my schedule, which the article had gotten wrong. I had something to look forward to. Soon Herbie, one of my most faithful regulars, stopped by. I know his taste and knew I didn't have anything for him. Then I spotted Simon, the 84-year-old veteran, who I hadn't seen in a few weeks, walking up East 13th, shopping cart in tow. He had a bunch of books for me. Herbie's eyes spread when he saw Sidney Sheldon's If Tomorrow Comes. He'd seen the film but never read the book. The three of us began discussing movies, a passion we share. Simon has been around since the early days of sound and saw all the early classics in the theater, not on television like Herbie and I. He is particularly fond of Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He mentioned that Dick Powell began as a singer, which I hadn't known, and that he introduced I Only Have Eyes for You in the 30's. I know the classic doo wop version by the Flamingos, which...

NYC's head nanny, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is at it again. He has been on crusades against smoking, trans-fats, soft drinks, and automobiles. He has claimed that banning smoking from restaurants and buildings has saved many lives. I hate smoking, but I am skeptical of the claim. It doesn't seem that less people are smoking. Then again, maybe that's because I live in a neighborhood that is predominantly Russian, and it seems like every Russian above the age of 16 is a smoker. The Mayor's edict against trans-fats seems to have flopped. Gothamites are as portly as ever, if not more so, and McDonalds fries now stink despite being laden with salt. He is trying to ban soft drinks more than 16 ounces, which seems ludicrous when a person can simply buy more than one at a time. His predilection for bicycle lanes at the expense of smooth automobile traffic has riled many more people than it has pleased. Not satisfied with these measures, he now wants hospitals to hide baby formula so that more mothers will breast feed. It's a good thing he doesn't have absolute power at the national level. Who knows how far he would go? His first edict would no doubt be a gun ban, leaving citizens at the mercy of criminals when policemen aren't around, which is almost always. I try not to be an alarmist about the so-called erosion of freedom conservative talk-show hosts rail about, but politicians like Bloomberg make it difficult. We were back...

Politicians in certain areas of the country are trying to block new Chick-fil-A restaurants from opening, citing the owner's opposition to gay marriage and belief in traditional marriage of man and woman, as stated in the Bible, a belief held by most of the public, although, according to polls, the margin seems to be shrinking. He is not banning anyone from eating in his venues. He is being penalized for a belief. By this logic, shouldn't all churches, synagogues and mosques that hold this belief be closed? If a person does not like the owner's beliefs, he/she is free to avoid the franchise. Let the market decide which businesses win and lose. This isn't a totalitarian society - at least not yet. Citizens are entitled to their beliefs without fear of government interference. Recently, I said to a friend how absurd the idea of marriage between men seemed. She laughed and said she thought marriage between women was absurd. If there were a Chick-fil-A nearby, I would eat there once a week. If it went public with a stock, I would buy it. My thanks to the woman who purchased four Sue Grafton thrillers, C, D, F & G in the Kinsey Milhone series. The prolific author is now up to V Is for Vendetta. When she is through with the alphabet, she can use numbers and go on infinitely. I also thank the woman who bought Barbara Taylor Bradford's Power of a Woman. A Russian gentleman broke the streak of...