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I don’t have a lot of movie memories before Star Wars which came out a few days before I turned six. My grandmother took me to see a Lassie movie at Radio City, but otherwise, Star Wars is the first movie I remember seeing in the theater. I went with my brother and my Old Man. A few years later, The Empire Strikes Back was a seminal summer movie–I saw it seven times in the theater, still a record for me–followed by summer blockbusters like Raiders, E.T., Ghostbusters, and later, Back to the Future.

Summer blockbusters. Which ones were your favorites as a kid (even as a grown kid)?

Yo, so dig this: our very own scrabble-lovin’ Diane Firstman will participate in ESPN Zone’s 3rd Annual Sports Spelling Bee. The Spelling Bee will take place at ESPN Zone in Times Square tomorrow, June 3rd at 7:00pm. ESPN Zone is located at 1472 Broadway on the corner of 42nd Street. If you around, head on over and provide some BRONX CHEER for our gal!

Say WERD! (That’s w-e-r-d, you n-e-r-d)

[Photo Credit: The Baltimore Sun]

Crying Tiger Pork

Yesterday, my pal Jon DeRosa hipped me to Jonathan Gold, a famous food writer from L.A. who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work a few years back. I’d never heard of Gold before but a quick goodle search of his columns for the L.A. Weekly was enough to hook me.

I went back into the New Yorker archives and checked out a profile on Gold by Dana Goodyear. Here is Gold at a Thai joint called Jitlada in a strip mall in Hollywood:

Gold started to reminisce about the spiciness of the species kua kling that Jazz had ever served him, the first day they met. “It was glowing, practically incandescent,” he said. “You bite into it and every alarm in your body goes off at once. it’s an overload on your pain receptors, and then the flavors just come through. It’s not that the hotness overwhelms the dish, which is what people who don’t understand Thai cooking always say, but that the dish is revealed for the first time–its flavor–as you taste details of fruit and tumeric and spices that you didn’t taste when it was merely extremely hot. It’s like a hallucination.”

I like spicy food but am a rank amateur when it comes to real spice. I’ve never tried anything as intense as kua kling but agree that beyond the initial shock of hotness, the flavors in Thai cuisine really develop and it is an incredible experience.

I also thought this was interesting:

Eating in the San Gabriel Valley, Gold has observed that, unlike in New York, where immigrants quickly broaden and assimilate their cooking styles to reflect the city’s collective idea of “Chinese food,” the insular nature of Los Angeles allows imported regional cuisines to remain intact, traceable almost to the the restaurant owners’ villages of origins. “The difference is that in New York they’re cooking for us,” Gold told me. “Here they’re cooking for themselves.”

I’m sure there are plenty of restaurants in New York that cook for themselves but I think regional cooking as a reflection of L.A.’s “I vant to be alone” sensibility makes all the sense in the world.

Here is Gold’s 99 Essential L.A. restaurants. Dig ’em, smack.

[Photo Credit: Jitlada.com]

Our friend Todd Drew passed away almost a year-and-a-half ago. In the days after his death, I coped with the sadness by staying busy. I didn’t want to sit with the pain. We talked about Todd on the site as the Banter sat shiva. What can we do? The rest of the Banter writers and I talked about it. What about a compilation of Todd’s work, from his blog Yankees for Justice, and his Shadow Games columns here at the Banter?

Then Diane Firstman suggested that we compile the Yankee Stadium Memories series into a book. It would have a broader appeal. Made sense to me. So when Skyhorse approached me about doing just that, I knew we had the perfect farewell to Todd.

I’m proud to announce that Skyhorse will release Bronx Banter Presents: Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories this October. The collection features 60 essays including 25 entirely new pieces (the Amazon link above has some errors that will be corrected shortly). And none other than Yogi Berra penned the foreword. The book features original work from the likes of Richard Ben Cramer, Tony Kornheiser, Tom Boswell, Leigh Montville, Pete Hamill, Charles Pierce, John Schulian, William Nack, Steve Rushin and Alan Schwarz.

Marilyn Johnson, Tyler Kepner, Neil DeMause, Ted Berg and I have essays on the new Stadium. Todd’s wife, Marsha, collaborated with me on the final piece in the book, a bittersweet memory of her view from the season-ticket seats in the new place that Todd didn’t live to see. It is the perfect ending. The book is introduced by Todd’s wonderful Stadium memory.

I lost a battle with the publisher in an effort to get all of the Stadium Memories that appeared on-line into the book. I was left to make some painful choices (and the writers whose work didn’t make the final cut were gracious and professional when they didn’t need to be and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that).  Of the essays that first appeared here on the Banter, close to two-thirds have been revised–condensed, mostly to make room for as many as possible–and I think vastly improved.

I’m exceedingly proud of the book. The entire Banter staff had a hand in putting it together and making it as strong as possible. I think this collection stands out for its depth and diversity. There are pieces from Yankee fans and Yankee-haters, New York beat writers and columnists, novelists and actors, New Yorkers and out-of-towners, transplants and visitors. The essays are, at turns, touching and sentimental, vulgar and hilarious, thoughtful and and irreverent, almost always intelligent—a true reflection of Bronx Banter.

I think Todd would dig it and I hope that you do too.

[Photo Credit: Baseball-Fever.com, N.Y. Daily News]

For all the passionate Banterites out there…

Ocean Park #83, By Richard Diebenkorn (1975)

Cliff checks in on the MVP races over at SI.com. Leading the AL? That man Morneau:

Last year, Joe Mauer led the American League in all three slash-stat categories (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging), led the majors in the first two and was a nearly unanimous selection for AL MVP. On Sunday morning, Mauer’s teammate Morneau was leading the AL in all three slash stats and the majors in the first two (Miguel Cabrera passed Morneau in slugging on Sunday). Morneau plays a position with a much higher average level of production and isn’t as highly regarded defensively as Mauer even there, but the slash-stat triple crown should be enough to guarantee a hitter the MVP award. To put the accomplishment in context: Mauer was the first American Leaguer to accomplish the feat since George Brett in 1980; only four NL hitters have pulled it off since Stan Musial did it in 1948, the most recent being Barry Bonds in 2004. I’d be surprised to see Morneau regain and maintain the lead in all three categories, but given how close he is to that accomplishment at this point in the season, he has to be the favorite for AL MVP.

I’m with a guy who thinks Wyoming is a country. You think you got problems?

John Cazale (left) apparently ad-libbed that line in Dog Day Afternoon. Cazale was in five movies: Godfather I, Godfather II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. Pound-for-pound perhaps the greatest movie career in history. And he was terrific in all of them.

Cazale, who died of bone cancer before The Deer Hunter was released, is the subject of a documentary tonight on HBO.

I’m so there.

The Silver Moon Bakery on 105th street and Broadway is: expensive, friendly, just a little bit pretentious, but most certainly delicious. I had an apricot brioche the other day. Cost me three bucks and it was so worth it. Worth waiting on line for and worth going back for that alone.

Ya heard?

[Photo Credit: The Wandering Eater]

This’ll put a pep in yer step:

Wayne Coffey had a piece about the struggling Jesus Montero yesterday in the News:

“In a lot of ways it’s good for young players to hit these speed bumps, because this business is full of them, and life is full of them,” says Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior VP of baseball operations. “He’s one of the better young hitters we’ve had in our system since I’ve been here (22 years). I am confident that he will hit. Our baseball field personnel – the coaches and coordinators – think he’s going to hit. You can’t find anyone in our organization who doesn’t think he’s going to be a really good player.”

…”If he tastes a little failure here, learning how to grind it out can help him get to the big leagues,” [Triple-A hitting coach, Butch] Wynegar says.

Newman said Jeter “is the strongest athlete mentally that I’ve ever been around.” Jeter had to deal with his onslaught of errors. Montero has to deal with his paltry home run total and his .234 average. The Yankees are not worried.

And how. It ripped into the piece this afternoon delivering line drive-bat-crackin’-goodness.

It was a close game for six innings, good pitcher’s duel between Andy Pettitte and Mitch Talbot. Every team in baseball wore white hats today, including the Yankees. I usually don’t go in for alternative NY caps, aesthetically not morally, but these looked good. And Pettitte looked regal and in command in the middle of the beautiful field on a nice spring day, hot but with a breeze.

Alex Rodriguez hit a solid line drive to right center field for a two-out RBI in the first. He whiffed in his next at bat and then got hit with a pitch. Now it was the bottom of the seventh and the bases were juiced because the Indians intentionally walked Mark Teixeira to pitch to him, Yanks holding a 2-1 lead.

Paul O’Neill had been talking about Alex being due to bust out sometime over the next couple of days on the YES broadcast. So Rodriguez gets into a fastball and hits a bomb to dead center, good for the 20th grand slam of his career. Only Manny and Lou Gehrig have more. Rodriguez needs four more for the all-time lead.

Robbie was hitching round the back bumber of the score truck, stepped up after the slam and lined a solo homer to right. Later, Rodriguez added an RBI double. Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher had two hits each, and Brett Gardner had three. Eleven runs in all, a series win, and a damn fine way to make up for what happened on Saturday.

Final Score: Yankees 11, Indians 1.

Good show boys, good show. And oh, by the way, Andy Pettitte is 7-1, with a 2.48 ERA. Not bad for an old man.

(Here we go, yo)

“It’s gunna be a good summer.”

[Photo Credit: Bags and AP Photo/Frank Franklin II]

Hazy, too. Good day for a picnic or a baseball game…

[Picture by Bags]

This is just so cool.

[Photo Credit: Jakarta Globe]

How best to follow-up Saturday’s disastrous loss? How about having a guy who hasn’t won a game since last August stick it up your ass? Well, that’s just what happened today, an otherwise gorgeous day in the Bronx. Justin Masterson, last seen around these parts working out of the Red Sox bullpen, is a big, broad-shouldered guy who throws a good sinker. He’s had some rough luck but was in good form today–struck out eight, got plenty of ground balls and made short work of the Yankees for six innings.

The Bombers didn’t have many chances. They put runners on second and third with one out in the fourth and didn’t do dick with it (Nick Swisher and Juan Miranda stuck out to end the inning). Meanwhile, AJ Burnett cruised, until two outs in the seventh when he hit a batter, Jeter made a throwing error, and a fly ball sailed over Nick Swisher’s glove in right for a triple. Swisher, who made a good catch and ran into the wall earlier in the game, came up slowly.

The Indians had a 3-0 lead and the Stadium was silent. But the Yanks rallied in the bottom of the inning. Swisher led-off with a single to center and moved to second on a force out by Miranda. Brett Gardner was next and he slapped a grounder past Masterson for base hit. Masterson didn’t miss fielding it by much, bad luck. Runners on first and third, one out. Francisco Cervelli pinch-hit for Chad Moeller in the nine hole and whiffed on a good sinker, down-and-in. Then Masterson got two strikes on Jeter and tried to bury a sinker in on his hands just like he did to Cervelli but the pitch didn’t snap and Jeter jumped all over it and banged a single to center. Everything happened fast. The line drive, the throw home, Gardner’s slide, the umpire’s call–safe!

That was it for Masterson, who was replaced by the lefty Tony Sipp. Curtis Granderson doubled to right, Jeter moved to third, and then Teixeira, batting right-handed, quickly fell behind 0-2. He took a couple of balls, fouled pitch off and then hit a bomb into the left field bleachers.

Exhale and cheer!

Burnett came back out and pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out the final two batters.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Insurance Truck showed up: Cano, single, Swisher, single, Miranda, double. Swisher dangled his right arm as he ran the bases like he was doing his best Jeffrey Leonard. Gardner flied out to shallow right, not deep enough to score Swisher but Cervelli drove a ball far enough to bring Swisher home (Swish has been incredibly hot, let’s hope he’s not too hurt).

Our man Mariano pitched the ninth. Struck out the first two batters and then broke a bat on a dribbler to mound. Mo jumped up with both feet like a frog, avoided the bat, landed, fielded the ball, smiled and then threw to first for the out.

Ball game, smiles: Relief.

Yanks 7, Indians 3.

[Photo Credit: AP Photo/Kathy Willens]

The less said about yesterday’s game the better. I’m willing to forget the whole thing if you are.

New day, new game. Let’s get it right today, will ya, boys?

[Picture by Bags]

Randy Winn has been DFA’d as Curtis Granderson rejoins the team. It was for the best. Seems like a nice guy, like he’s cousins with Bernie Williams or something, but he couldn’t catch up with a good fastball. It was time to go.

On a more somber note, Gary Coleman passed away today. He was 42.

I was a huge fan of Diff’rent Strokes when I was growing up. Coleman was a major comic influence, right up there with JJ from Good Times. Reggie was a guest star on Diff’rent Strokes and so was Ali, who helped Arnold deal with a bully named the Gooch. Along with Steve Martin’s “Wild and Crazy Guy” bit, “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout Willis?” was a seminal catch phrase, the can’t-miss-sure-to-make-you-laugh-schtick. The rasberry. The verbal banana peel. He delivered it well.

My sister and brother loved it, kids at school loved it. The beauty part was that we waited all week for him to say it and so did he. My favorite part was how Coleman sometimes looked like he was going to break character and crack up, because it was that funny. Just like they used to crack up on the Carol Burnett  Show.

I visited my grandparents in Belgium for the summer when I was twelve. Summer of ’83. I was starved for the English language. They had Happy Days and Starsky and Hutch on TV but they were dubbed into French. Fortunately, a Belgian TV station played what they called  Arnold in English with Flemish subtitles. It was life-saving.

Colman was like Spanky McFarland from the Our Gang comedies–irrepressibly great when he was young. Completely charming. Effortless.

As they got older, the freshness wore off and they weren’t as natural or cute. They became self-aware, polished. The downside of child acting–washed-up at fourteen. Still, Coleman hit the high notes plenty of times and set the bar for child stars in the Eighties. Few of them could touch Coleman at his best.

R.I.P.

Vacation Friday. Bump it.

Busta!

Our man Hank Waddles has a good interview with Norman Ollestad. Nice job, once again, Hendree.

Dig.

[Photo Credit: Quicksilver]

Yanks go for the quick sweep of the Twins. Minnie won the last game in the New York series and now try to save face at home. Nice-looking new ball park out there, too. There were some gorgeous shots of the sunset and the moon against the city skyline on the YES broadcast last night.

We’ll see if Javy’s finger is a problem. Or anything else for that matter. But he’s had a couple of decent starts. Hope he builds on it.

Be nice to have have the Score Truck show up and take ’em back home to the BX in style.

Whadda ya say, boys?

[Picture by Bags]