A New York State of Mind

Though I posted about our trip to New York City while still on the road on Facebook and other social media, most of which were re-posted on this blog, below is a more comprehensive account of our trip. Or click here for the full photo gallery from our trip. 

Over the past year or so, we’ve contemplated a major vacation, particularly with our 25th wedding anniversary looming this year. While Europe was on the table, so was New York City, primarily to see some Broadway shows.

The announcement last October of a new production of the David Mamet play, Glengarry Glen Ross, with Bob Odenkirk, Keiran Culkin and Bill Burr, was what convinced us to pull the trigger. I’ve always wanted to see it on stage and my wife agreed that this might be the show to plan our trip around.

I put myself on a mailing list for the show and, in February this year, learned that the dates for the production had been scheduled. After grabbing tickets for the April 3 show, we soon found flights and a great deal for a hotel in the heart of Times Square and Broadway (via Expedia—my plan was to see if I could find a better price for a hotel later, but learned that we indeed got a terrific deal).

Almost at the same time, George Clooney’s stage production of Good Night and Good Luck was announced, based on his 2005 film, about journalist Edward J. Murrow. We purchased tickets for that as well and, after a little research, thought that a new stage musical, Maybe Happy Ending, which received some nice reviews, sounded like good counter programming for the two stage dramas we signed up for.

Flight and Arrival

We’d booked an early morning flight so scheduled a Lyft pickup for 5:30 am for a 7:45 am flight. All went smoothly except for one little glitch. After going through the TSA checkpoint and settling in our gate, I was paged over the terminal loudspeaker by my full name, telling me to report back to the TSA security checkpoint. My wife said later half-jokingly that she wondered if she’d ever see me again when I walked off. It turned out I simply left my ID in the bin at the checkpoint!

Though I’d heard horror stories about JetBlue, we found the flight and crew perfectly lovely. The free wifi on board was a great boon, as it allowed me to be productive and get a lot of social media done while en route.

On our trip to Seattle back in 2023, my wife taught me a great life hack for flying that we took advantage of on this flight. Like most people, we don’t check in our luggage to save on the baggage fees and just use carry ons. However, when a flight is fully booked, at the gate the airline often asks people if they are willing to check in their bags, for no charge. On our trip to Seattle, I opted not to accept this offer while my wife did, but on this flight, I agreed—and it was rather nice not having to board the plane with any luggage. (This trick worked for us on the flight home as well!)

We arrived at JFK at about 3:30 pm EST. I’d researched in advance options for getting into Manhattan and, similar to our last trip to NYC in 2010 with our kids, there was a set price by taxi, though considerably higher than our last visit: about $85, but after tolls and tip, $105.

Our lodging, the Millennium Broadway Times Square, was on 44th Street (with a rear entrance on 45th). Though the room could’ve used fresh paint or wallpaper, and new carpeting (or perhaps a good steam cleaning), it was otherwise good sized and the bathrooms looked like they’d been updated fairly recently. That all said, we did get it for a reasonable price for the area, and the location couldn’t be beat: we were a half block from Times Square and within walking distance of all the theaters we were going to, as well as to Rockefeller Center. Conveniently, a 24-hour Walgreens was next door! In addition, two of the four shows we were seeing were on the same street as our hotel (one just at the end of the block); the third only a block over; and the last about 4 blocks north of us. Since my wife tends to like to sleep in and I am an early riser, I often used the mornings to get breakfast (usually a croissant and orange juice) that I ate either in the lobby, or often just while sitting in the middle of Times Square, while posting to social media and catching up with the news and on email.

The evening of our arrival, we explored our surroundings a bit and had a lovely dinner at an old school Italian restaurant, Tony di Napoli, and ordered waaaay too much food!

Day 2

Our first full day in Manhattan, we took the subway down to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. (We loved the ease of riding the subway by simply using a tap on our mobile devices to pay our fares, though early on we had trouble with the subway turnstiles properly reading them.)

Though I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, I told my wife there was no need to visit the borough as we have on previous trips—a trip to Staten Island would essentially kill a day and there was no need for me to revisit my old haunts as I have done in the past. Nearby Battery Park was unfortunately closed for renovations, but we could still see the Statue of Liberty from the terminal. From there, we walked up to the Financial District/Wall Street, briefly stopped at Trinity Church, and then visited the 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial.

After that, we took the subway up to the Society of Illustrators—where I saw a piece from a longtime fellow comics pro, Lonnie Milsap, on display in the museum’s 100 Years of the New Yorker exhibition. We initially thought about then walking across Central Park to get to Strawberry Fields, a favorite spot in the park of John Lennon’s, across the street from his building co-op, the Dakota, but thought better of it and took a taxi instead. (Our visits to the Society of Illustrators and Strawberry Fields are detailed in earlier posts.)

We got back to the hotel around mid-afternoon, so as to have some time to relax before going to our evening show, a schedule we kept on the other days as well. That evening, we saw the first of our four shows, Maybe Happy Ending (I will detail my thoughts and reviews about all the shows we saw in another post). This was followed by a dinner at an Irish bar, O’Donaghue’s Pub.

Day 3

The next morning, before my wife got up, I visited Midtown Comics (reported here). Once my wife was awake, we visited the FDNY’s Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company in Tribeca—we’d actually meant to visit the day before when we were more downtown, but forgot, so took a quick subway ride there to see it, then shot back uptown where we saw the Ed Sullivan Theatre, home to the Late Night with Stephen Colbert show, which enabled to discover the location of the Winter Garden Theatre where we’d be seeing Good Night and Good Luck later that week, about 4 blocks north of our hotel. We also grabbed a lovely lunch across the street at an upscale dim sum palace, Din Tai Fung. (I later learned from my wife that this restaurant has a location near us in L.A., in Century City.)

We also found time to visit the Empire State Building—though it had been cloudy all day, the weather cleared up enough that we had great views atop the building. To get there, our subway stop was at Penn Station. We took the opportunity to see the commuter trains and platforms while there.

That evening, we saw Glengarry Glen Ross, followed by dinner at Brooklyn Diner (which frankly was our only disappointing meal on the trip).

Day 4

Our 4th day, Saturday, April 5, happened to be the date of the nationwide Hands Off rallies. Though we were 3,000 miles away from home and would have participated in L.A., we happily took time to participate in the NYC protests, at Bryant Park/New York Public Library.

Due to timing issues, we got afternoon tickets to tour Radio City Music Hall. After getting our tickets, we took a taxi to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side in Central Park. Though we did spend quality time there, we did not get to see the entire museum and did have to leave after a few hours to make our Radio City tour, which was another taxi ride back.

One of the most interesting factoids from the Radio City tour was that the nearly 100-year-old hydraulic system beneath the stage is still being used—when the theater underwent a major renovation years ago, after inspection, that was one feature the engineers said did not need work or an upgrade. The system was an engineering marvel in its day, such that, before World War II, military engineers studied it for use on aircraft carriers. According to the tour, for this reason, a military presence was kept at the site during the war to safeguard the technology.

In the evening, we saw Good Night and Good Luck at the Winter Garden Theatre. This was followed by my favorite dinner of the evening at Gatsby’s Landing, where I had duck.

The restaurant happened to be directly across the street from the Belasco Theatre, where we had seen Maybe Happy Landing two nights before (as well as just a half block from our hotel). That night’s performance had also just let out and people milled around in front of the theater, hoping to get autographs and catch a glimpse of the show’s lead star, Darren Criss, and other members of the cast. As we waited for dinner, Criss did indeed come out. So I took the opportunity to run across the street to take some photos!

Day 5

We toured NBC Studios and 30 Rockefeller Center on Sunday, just before departing for the airport, and saw Studio 8H, where SNL is broadcast. No photos were allowed at any time during the tour. (I also looked into getting tickets months before. It turns out, they offer tickets during a week’s window in August and you are given a take-it-or-leave-it date, though they do also offer stand by tickets.) As noted in an earlier post, we ended up on the same flight back to L.A. as one of the musicians who had performed on the episode of SNL that had aired the night before, featuring host Jack Black. (This reminds me of another celebrity close encounter when I was once in NYC back in the day—we saw actress Téa Leoni at an ice cream shop with what I assume were her children and perhaps her parents!)

It was a memorable, terrific trip that confirmed for us that NYC is indeed one of the world’s great cities, with an incredible energy and vibe. I’m usually ready to go home near the end of my vacation, and while I didn’t feel the vacation went by too quickly, I happily could have stayed longer.

Click here to see the full photo gallery from our trip. 

30 Rock and Radio City Music Hall

Talk Show Appearance

Catch the show below live on YouTube and Twitch.

Four Plays in Four Nights!

At the Met

Hands Off!

Top of the World, Ma!

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!

Midtown Comics Times Square

As a funny addendum to this story, shortly after my visit, Midtown Comics posted on Twitter that actor/comedian Brian Posehn showed up at the store as well that same day!

A post from Posehn's Facebook account then showed up on my feed with this accompanying photo—which suddenly made sense why he partly may have been in town: to see the play, "Glengarry Glen Ross," with his Mr. Show with Bob and David castmate, which we saw Thursday night ourselves!.

Strawberry Fields Forever...

Spotted in the Wild in NYC...

Yes, almost immediately after WonderCon ended, we are off to New York City!

WonderCon 2025 is a Wrap!

New Baseball Season!

See You at WonderCon 2025!

Website Front Page Update

I just implemented a small but significant redesign to the front page of the WCG Comics website! 

Though the design has evolved over the years, a slider with multiple banner images at the top of the site has always been a prominent element  It provided dynamic animation to the landing page and was an efficient way to use the top real estate on the front page for multiple up to date announcements, news, new products, etc.

I've recently looked into updating the site for awhile, to align it more with modern website design principles and trends, particularly in the use of fluid pages with more boxed featured content and bold "hero" images, etc. To date, however, I haven't found a satisfactory WordPress template theme that meets all my needs. (The site currently uses the MH Magazine theme.) 

However, in an effort to move more towards a "content box" design popular in modern website design, I recently replaced the longtime image slider at top with a series of boxed content that takes the same space and fills the same goal as the sliding image by offering multipe important links and messages at the top—but without having to scroll through or wait for a new image to appear. However, in order to retain some dynamic sliding images at the top, the first box—essentially a welcome to the website and the series—features a sliding carousel of images. To offset these smaller images, I also expanded the size of the top banner, making it more of a "hero image."

The new design also fulfills recent changes to promote purchases more by more prominently featuring buy links at the site, making news and other items secondary.

Remembering Will Eisner

Shout Out on YouTube

So I was listening to this YouTube show I subscribe to, hosted by Silverline Comics, and heard my name mentioned in the context of creators working for themselves to produce their own work versus a big company! (It happens at the 1:10:50 mark but is already cued up below.)

Birthday Celebration

SNL at 50

I began watching Saturday Night Live in its very first 1975 season when I was 13 (I discovered Monty Python’s Flying Circus around the same time). It was a perfect time to discover it—though I was at an age to still be exposed to the golden age of comedy, SNL and Monty Python also greatly expanded my concept of humor. 

Over the decades, the show has had its ups and downs, of course, but I’m glad to say I never became so calcified or smug to believe that it stopped being funny. Though I’ve admittedly reached the age where I don't necessarily know all the references or the musical guests (fortunately, my wife and daughter can usually fill me in)—and it’s not always “must see” tv for me every week—it can still make me laugh.

The SNL celebrations this past week have been memorable and pitch perfect, reflecting not only the show’s continued cultural influence but also how much of an important revenue source it has become for NBC.

The celebrations culminated with the 50th anniversary concert on Valentine's Day, and the live star-studded broadcast this past Sunday, Feb. 16.

The concert was a blast, a mixture of old and new, and incredibly eclectic, from the B-52s, to Bad Bunny, to Devo, Sabrina Carpenter, and more—mixed in with some occasional comedy bits. It was particularly cool to see Fred Armisen sitting in on the drums for the B-52s and Devo.

The show itself was simply an extended episode of a typical show, featuring sketches and musical guests. Episode to episode and season to season, SNL has always been hit and miss. And for anything as subjective as comedy, especially when you're occasionally trying to push the boundaries, it would be impossible to be funny 100 percent. But for the most part, the anniversary show really hit it out of the park—while often falling back on familiar characters and sketches from the past, there often was an added twist or update to make it fresh.

It was a treat to see different era cast members performing with each other, and a surprise to see them lean on people like Sabrina Carpenter and Bad Bunny. And after skipping the 40th due to hurt feelings, Eddie Murphy showed he still has it and looked like he was having fun. In addition to Murphy, there were many other great highlights: Pedro Pascal; DeNiro and Nicholson; Laraine Newman; Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Q&A; John Mulaney’s musical parody; the “in memorian” sequence of old characters and skits; and more. Though I haven’t always been a fan of Adam Sandler’s comedy songs, his performance at the celebration near the end of the night proved to be a highlight and moving. And, of course, the show was anchored by rock royalty, a Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, who closed the night with a performance of “Golden Slumbers” and “The End” that proved to be a perfect capstone to the evening.

While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that SNL has continued to be an important part of my life, the show’s 50th anniversary reminds me that it remains a dependable source for comedy and a good reflection of the zeitgeist.

The Comics That Made Me, Pt. 2

Coming Soon...

The Comics That Made Me, Pt. 1

Pictured at right is Our Army at War (Sgt. Rock) #267, cover dated April 1974—story by Robert Kanigher/interior art by John Severin/cover by Joe Kubert.

When I was growing up and getting into comics in the early 1970s, comic book stores had really not taken off yet. There were certainly none near me, and though some school friends read comics, I was completely unaware of the fan community. So like most kids in that era, I got my comics simply from what was available on the spinner rack at a local drugstore.

Though I remember owning some random comics when I was younger—including a Dennis the Menace comic book that I really loved, a Tarzan comic, and a Marvel Fantastic Four, as well as a Peanuts paperback collection—this was the first comic book I recall consciously purchasing, which made me a collector. Being a war history and film nut at the time, this was right up my alley for 12-year-old me. As such, it became the first comic book series I collected, dutifully going down to that drugstore every month to pick up the next issue. 

This was before comic book stores had really taken off—there were none near me that I was aware of, so like most kids my age, I bought them off the spinner rack at my local drugstore, which was down by the train station. And it’s not like the store carried everything (I don’t recall any Marvel Comics on that display), but fortunately they carried this series pretty regularly. I also remember excitedly coming across issue 269, a 100 page special, at a news vendor at the Staten Island Ferry terminal, right before boarding a boat—which my mom kindly got me for a whopping 60¢! A little while later, I discovered a neighborhood kid had several issues that immediately preceded this one, which allowed me to add to my collection. 

Though Joe Kubert, who was most closely identified with the character, still drew the covers (as shown in the sample issues below), I was oblivious to his earlier work on the series, though I saw his work in collections. So in addition to Severin, the other artists I was exposed to on Sgt. Rock during that period included Russ Heath, George Evans and Frank Redondo for an extended run. I had no idea Redondo was Filipino, nor part of the wave of Filipino artists who entered the U.S. comics industry during the ‘70.)

This comic book started it all in another way—it inspired my own war comic, Sgt. Hanes and Hell Platoon—of which I drew 26 issues (the same milestone I’m about to hit this year with Rob Hanes Adventures!). Drawn on lined notebook paper with black pencil and colored pencils, each new issue was passed around my junior high school classroom—and, yes, I have most of those issues still! As readers of Rob Hanes Adventures know, I finally fulfilled a dream to bring that character into the series in issue 22 in a World War II flashback, and again in the last issue, #25.

Shortly after, I also began picking up Batman comics (both Batman and Detective Comics), being a fan of the character from the Adam West tv show which was in re-runs when I was a kid.

New Interview on The Heroic Voice

My interview with Dennis Mallonee on his Heroic Voice YouTube channel just dropped! It's a crisp 30-minute conversation where I talk about my series, my so-called comics career, and what's upcoming—including a way overdue third volume compilation that collects issues 9-12. Thanks to Dennis for a great conversation!

Double Secret Probation!

In Remembrance of Jules Feiffer

Mood

Bill Mauldin (1963)

Jack Kirby and Joe Simon (1941)

Pacific Palisades Fire 2

Yesterday morning, I took the photo at right, taken on the 405 North in West L.A., about 4 miles from my home, with smoke from the Palisades Fire rising from the other side of the Santa Monica mountains. By the evening, the fire had made it to the other side, forcing the evacuation of the neighborhoods on both sides of the freeway up further in the photo. That area is about 9 miles north of me up the freeway.

We never got an alert and the fire today appears to have continued northwest, away from us. Despite all this, last night was the first time I experienced some anxiety about this and actually gave some thought to what I would pack if it came to that. Fortunately, it appears we continue to be safe, but I can only imagine the stress felt by those who have been told to evacuate.

In addition to the firefighters, police and other officials, I have to also give credit to the local news people. This being L.A. with several local television news stations, all of them have been providing nearly all-day coverage, some 24/7 (about three to four stations or so). This has been from the news room, up in the air and on the ground—some reporters have covered their own neighborhoods, evacuating their own families first. 

The fact that it has been going this many days with about only 11% contained—and so far burning an area 2-1/2 times the size of Manhattan—should give people an idea of the sheer size and unprecedented scope of this disaster. With so much of it tearing through undeveloped land (like mountain terrain) where it can be only fought with water drops from aircraft, it's difficult to contain from the ground until it approaches homes and developed areas.

Pacific Palisades Fires

Today, I drove home to Los Angeles from Northern California and, shortly after entering the L.A. area, spotted the Pacific Palisades fire a few hours after it had begun. (I did not learn the details of the fire until I returned home, discovering it had become a national news story.)

The photo at right was taken on the 405 South freeway entering into West L.A. where I live, from the San Fernando Valley. The photo is around the Getty Museum that I visited just a few weeks ago (in fact, I believe that's the Getty nestled in the mountain to the left). This photo is probably 5-8 miles away from the fire.

I initially began this post to note that, on this drive, I broke my personal record for the 313 mile drive, making it in 4 hours and 10 minutes! Over the past couple years, I have made this round trip drive a few times a year now that my son attends college up there—I also have family in the area, which helps break up the drive over a few days. 

For decades, I accepted the fact that the wall for this drive was 4.5 hours, but this past year, I broke it a few times at 4 hours and 15 minutes. Over the course of today's trip, I watched GoogleMaps gradually shave my arrival time by more than 45 minutes.

Indeed, in addition to the fire, this trip was more fraught than usual. During my drive, I encountered high winds up in the mountains that jerked my car sideways a couple times—winds that likely helped fuel the fire's spread. I even saw several tumbleweeds roll across the freeway lanes in front of me! On the trip, I also had to swerve around a detached SUV bumper in the carpool lane I was in and, this afternoon, a huge piece of truck tread in the middle of the freeway. 

Oh, well, at least I made it home safe and sound. As I write this, the fires continue to spread—all my good wishes go to everyone affected by the disaster.

Remembering January 6

What a peaceful transfer of power in a democracy is supposed to look like...

...versus four years ago.. 

Never forget.

A Rockin' New Year Concert – MADJB!

In the year just past, I discovered the Middle Aged Dad Jam Band on YouTube, which mostly does covers of "dad rock" and other power pop songs. Formed during COVID, it's led by comedians Ed Marino and David Wain, members of The State comedy troupe. The band includes friends, musicians, and other actors and comedians, with guests frequently sitting in and singing in their videos and live shows. They obviously love the music and have pretty good music chops, but as the band's name suggests, and they being who they are, it's all about the fun and they don't take themselves too seriously.

So when they announced they were having a New Year's Eve concert, at a small second floor club called the Lodge Room in Highland Park, just north of downtown Los Angeles, we couldn't resist the opportunity to see them! 

They performed a diverse set list that ranged from covers of songs by Billy Joel (three!) the Doors, the Squeeze, Talking Heads, Tom Petty, Tommy Tutone, ABBA, Springsteen, the Who, Paul McCartney, the B-52s, Barry Manilow, and others—they also performed a full cover of Conjunction Junction!Among their guests were comedian/actors Kerri Kenney, Errin Hayes and Joe Truglio. There also were lots of laughs and comedy bits between songs. Their kids also took the stage at one point, performing covers of songs from Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo. At three hours (with a break), we certainly got our money's worth (tickets were surprisingly not expensive at all). It was a great way to ring in the new year.

At the end of the show, Marino mingled a little with the crowd, so I was able to thank him for a great show!