There was a time when I would have gotten really despondent about the prospect of the Katz's of this world trying to get Substack shut down.
Now my attitude is - Go ahead and spend your time and energy trying to shut us down! Wear yourselves out. We'll only pop up somewhere else. We are not going away, and I take great joy in being a thorn in your side.
Not to mention just getting on with my own life in spite of your BS.
Incidentally, Craig, do you still have a copy of the story about your favourite T-shirt? I'd love to read it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
LOL, no, that story is long gone. But, I have a question to ask you about your writing. Would you send me an email, please, at craignelsen@substack.com
QED, eh? There's always someone; this time it's Karen Katz; someone did that to Telegram too, and I think they caved. I had to laugh at why you left NYU: I walked out of a lecture hall at the U of Illinois/Chicago and never went back. Why? In a lecture hall of about 500, the professor stopped and asked one kid, "Are you chewing gum?!" "Yeah." "Please leave my class." (looking incredulous): "No." I thought this is bullshit; it's freaking college and this asshole is worried about someone chewing gum, like it's kindergarten?! Buh-bye.
That's insane. What if he were in the park, or something, and someone nearby was chewing gum. In the park he wouldn't have the power to make them leave. What did he do. Shoot them?
Ominous news, Craig. If we lose Substack... there aren't that many uncensored forums left.
Another personal connection: graduated from NYU in 1968. Spent 4 years at the Wash SQ campus, English major, education minor. Never went into Katz's Deli but passed by it plenty of times. The climate in the classrooms was usually toward liberal but never what we call woke. Radicals were screaming in the lobby about Vietnam atrocities on one occasion, but most students and faculty didn't participate in protest or demonstrations or talk about the war in class. Outside of class, the male students were apprehensive about being drafted. Censorship was openly, I'd say, almost institutionally deplored. The left was fighting to be heard. Now they're in charge and fighting to shut down or cancel the opposition.
I remember the first time I came across the term "hate speech." Some academic was proposing it. That will never fly in the US, I scoffed. They are relentless.
We have another connection, too. I tended bar at Maxwell's in Hoboken.
Front room or back? I was there a lot during the 80s and first half of 90s. Seldom in the front. Always going to see bands. I roomed w/ the Bongos drummer.
I suspect that substack will end up being the same type of honeypot that all the other corrupt platforms ended up. You'll know for sure when Elon buys it.
When you say siblings, I'm assuming you mean the Fallon family not the later owners who turned it into a restaurant and brew pub.
My passion before conspiracies was rock music. First CBGBs then Maxwells as regular haunts. After the early 90s my interest in music waned and interest in alt science, revisionist history and conspiracies took off.
Yep, pre-brewery. I also would hit CBGB's now and then. It was on my way home after class. I lived on E 3rd St. Here was my daily walk to class. First there was Heroin Alley--E 3rd between A & B. A whole bunch of abandoned buildings mixed in with occupied buildings. Drug operations would take control of a whole building. They had regular hours, with regular employees who had their specific jobs. I made friends with a Puerto Rican kid who grew up on that block. He took me to his house one day. We walk in and the whole family--maybe ten people, including grandma--were watching TV. And filling little bags with heroin for sale on the street. Like that was grandma's job. They had brand names and everything. If you walked down that block early enough in the morning, it wasn't unusual to see a Mercedes pull with a guy picking up his habit on his way down to Wall Street for work.
The next block was where the very first public housing project in America was built--sometime during the 30s. They were called "First Houses." All the residents were so old, there was no crime problem there.
The next block was where the Hell's Angels headquarters/club house was located. They were good for an occasional spectacle. There was a large Ukrainian community in that neighborhood. They basically kept to themselves. One time, one of the Hell's Angels guys raped a young Ukrainian woman. A whole group of Ukrainian men showed up at the club house, forced their way in and killed the guy and that was that. I respected them for that. The Ukrainians, not the Hell's Angels. One morning about 5 a.m. there was a massive police raid there, complete with commandos dropping onto the roof from helicopters. It woke the whole neighborhood up.
In the next block was an 8-story soup kitchen and homeless shelter. Every day, the city bused in all the homeless from every borough and fed them breakfast there from 7-8 am. Then the soup kitchen would close until dinner at 6 pm, after which they were bused back to their home borough. So for ten hours every day, thousands of panhandlers and crazy people wandered the neighborhood, killing time. One morning I was passing the soup kitchen on my way to class and up ahead there were two guys standing on the sidewalk talking. One of the guys decided that that was the time and place to take a shit. He dropped his drawers right where he stood, and took a squat. He didn't even stop talking to his friend. Amazing.
From there, I would pass CBGBs, cross the Bowery, and step suddenly into regular New York City.
I'm certain I learned more from the route I took to Prof Katz's class than I learned from Professor Katz.' class itself. You know nobody on that route ever refrained from speaking their mind for fear of offending a Katz. Any one of them was a better person than Jonathan Katz.
More connections - I lived on E.3rd during the summer of 71. I remember the Hell's Angels block, tho nothing exciting going on as in your story. There was some quiet Ukrainian bar on E.7th I'd go in occasionally - Blue and Gold. But McSorley's was better fare, more lively, better saw dust ambience. Slightly earlier than the E.7th summer, when I was still living at home in Queens, I met a PR guy in Bryant Park near my job. He dealt grass and was in the Young Lords. His drink of choice was Champale malt liquor w/ grenadine syrup. I went to Woodstock w/ Eddie Figueroa and his cousin. Had a great time.
Yeah, I remember Blue and Gold. And Leshkos and Odessa Restaurants. The block McSorley's was on always smelled like vomit on March 18th. A friend of mine lent me his copy of a biography of Charles Lindbergh, and when I finished it, we met at McSorley's to return the book and have a couple dozen beers. So we were standing at the bar (there were no chairs or stools in the place) downing those, what were they? 3 oz beers? talking about the book and I looked up and saw a sign behind the bar, way up next to the ceiling, that said something like "Charles Lindbergh will never darken the door of this tavern again." I wouldn't have thought anything about it previously, but, having just finished his biography, I knew what a shitty thing that sign was.
Maybe the sawdust was to soak up the vomit. Never thought of that. Don't remember the anti-Lindbergh sentiment, but I recall a bartender giving my girlfriend attitude when she asked for the key to the bathroom. They were loathe to give up their men-only policy.
The bane of NYC bars in the 90s was Wall St yuppies. Across town in the Meatpacking District at Hogs and Heifers, they'd start to trickle in wearing their suits and ruin the faux biker ambience. I remember remonstrating w/ the bouncer about them. He was sympathetic but ... It was home to the dance on the bar, leave your bra on the coat rack. Impressive impromptu happenings. Female bar tenders might take the lead on a given night and you could always count on them to yell good-natured abuse at customers. I think Hollywood based a crappy movie (Coyote Ugly) on it.
There was a time when I would have gotten really despondent about the prospect of the Katz's of this world trying to get Substack shut down.
Now my attitude is - Go ahead and spend your time and energy trying to shut us down! Wear yourselves out. We'll only pop up somewhere else. We are not going away, and I take great joy in being a thorn in your side.
Not to mention just getting on with my own life in spite of your BS.
Incidentally, Craig, do you still have a copy of the story about your favourite T-shirt? I'd love to read it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
LOL, no, that story is long gone. But, I have a question to ask you about your writing. Would you send me an email, please, at craignelsen@substack.com
QED, eh? There's always someone; this time it's Karen Katz; someone did that to Telegram too, and I think they caved. I had to laugh at why you left NYU: I walked out of a lecture hall at the U of Illinois/Chicago and never went back. Why? In a lecture hall of about 500, the professor stopped and asked one kid, "Are you chewing gum?!" "Yeah." "Please leave my class." (looking incredulous): "No." I thought this is bullshit; it's freaking college and this asshole is worried about someone chewing gum, like it's kindergarten?! Buh-bye.
That's insane. What if he were in the park, or something, and someone nearby was chewing gum. In the park he wouldn't have the power to make them leave. What did he do. Shoot them?
I know, right? He's the epitome of Mencken's definition of a Puritan ("OMG, someone might be having fun somewhere! It keeps me up at night!")
Ominous news, Craig. If we lose Substack... there aren't that many uncensored forums left.
Another personal connection: graduated from NYU in 1968. Spent 4 years at the Wash SQ campus, English major, education minor. Never went into Katz's Deli but passed by it plenty of times. The climate in the classrooms was usually toward liberal but never what we call woke. Radicals were screaming in the lobby about Vietnam atrocities on one occasion, but most students and faculty didn't participate in protest or demonstrations or talk about the war in class. Outside of class, the male students were apprehensive about being drafted. Censorship was openly, I'd say, almost institutionally deplored. The left was fighting to be heard. Now they're in charge and fighting to shut down or cancel the opposition.
I remember the first time I came across the term "hate speech." Some academic was proposing it. That will never fly in the US, I scoffed. They are relentless.
We have another connection, too. I tended bar at Maxwell's in Hoboken.
Front room or back? I was there a lot during the 80s and first half of 90s. Seldom in the front. Always going to see bands. I roomed w/ the Bongos drummer.
So you were in the thick of it back in the day. Love that
I did both, basically when someone went on vacation and stuff. One of the siblings was a friend of mine
Big H/T.
I suspect that substack will end up being the same type of honeypot that all the other corrupt platforms ended up. You'll know for sure when Elon buys it.
When you say siblings, I'm assuming you mean the Fallon family not the later owners who turned it into a restaurant and brew pub.
My passion before conspiracies was rock music. First CBGBs then Maxwells as regular haunts. After the early 90s my interest in music waned and interest in alt science, revisionist history and conspiracies took off.
Yep, pre-brewery. I also would hit CBGB's now and then. It was on my way home after class. I lived on E 3rd St. Here was my daily walk to class. First there was Heroin Alley--E 3rd between A & B. A whole bunch of abandoned buildings mixed in with occupied buildings. Drug operations would take control of a whole building. They had regular hours, with regular employees who had their specific jobs. I made friends with a Puerto Rican kid who grew up on that block. He took me to his house one day. We walk in and the whole family--maybe ten people, including grandma--were watching TV. And filling little bags with heroin for sale on the street. Like that was grandma's job. They had brand names and everything. If you walked down that block early enough in the morning, it wasn't unusual to see a Mercedes pull with a guy picking up his habit on his way down to Wall Street for work.
The next block was where the very first public housing project in America was built--sometime during the 30s. They were called "First Houses." All the residents were so old, there was no crime problem there.
The next block was where the Hell's Angels headquarters/club house was located. They were good for an occasional spectacle. There was a large Ukrainian community in that neighborhood. They basically kept to themselves. One time, one of the Hell's Angels guys raped a young Ukrainian woman. A whole group of Ukrainian men showed up at the club house, forced their way in and killed the guy and that was that. I respected them for that. The Ukrainians, not the Hell's Angels. One morning about 5 a.m. there was a massive police raid there, complete with commandos dropping onto the roof from helicopters. It woke the whole neighborhood up.
In the next block was an 8-story soup kitchen and homeless shelter. Every day, the city bused in all the homeless from every borough and fed them breakfast there from 7-8 am. Then the soup kitchen would close until dinner at 6 pm, after which they were bused back to their home borough. So for ten hours every day, thousands of panhandlers and crazy people wandered the neighborhood, killing time. One morning I was passing the soup kitchen on my way to class and up ahead there were two guys standing on the sidewalk talking. One of the guys decided that that was the time and place to take a shit. He dropped his drawers right where he stood, and took a squat. He didn't even stop talking to his friend. Amazing.
From there, I would pass CBGBs, cross the Bowery, and step suddenly into regular New York City.
I'm certain I learned more from the route I took to Prof Katz's class than I learned from Professor Katz.' class itself. You know nobody on that route ever refrained from speaking their mind for fear of offending a Katz. Any one of them was a better person than Jonathan Katz.
More connections - I lived on E.3rd during the summer of 71. I remember the Hell's Angels block, tho nothing exciting going on as in your story. There was some quiet Ukrainian bar on E.7th I'd go in occasionally - Blue and Gold. But McSorley's was better fare, more lively, better saw dust ambience. Slightly earlier than the E.7th summer, when I was still living at home in Queens, I met a PR guy in Bryant Park near my job. He dealt grass and was in the Young Lords. His drink of choice was Champale malt liquor w/ grenadine syrup. I went to Woodstock w/ Eddie Figueroa and his cousin. Had a great time.
Yeah, I remember Blue and Gold. And Leshkos and Odessa Restaurants. The block McSorley's was on always smelled like vomit on March 18th. A friend of mine lent me his copy of a biography of Charles Lindbergh, and when I finished it, we met at McSorley's to return the book and have a couple dozen beers. So we were standing at the bar (there were no chairs or stools in the place) downing those, what were they? 3 oz beers? talking about the book and I looked up and saw a sign behind the bar, way up next to the ceiling, that said something like "Charles Lindbergh will never darken the door of this tavern again." I wouldn't have thought anything about it previously, but, having just finished his biography, I knew what a shitty thing that sign was.
Maybe the sawdust was to soak up the vomit. Never thought of that. Don't remember the anti-Lindbergh sentiment, but I recall a bartender giving my girlfriend attitude when she asked for the key to the bathroom. They were loathe to give up their men-only policy.
The bane of NYC bars in the 90s was Wall St yuppies. Across town in the Meatpacking District at Hogs and Heifers, they'd start to trickle in wearing their suits and ruin the faux biker ambience. I remember remonstrating w/ the bouncer about them. He was sympathetic but ... It was home to the dance on the bar, leave your bra on the coat rack. Impressive impromptu happenings. Female bar tenders might take the lead on a given night and you could always count on them to yell good-natured abuse at customers. I think Hollywood based a crappy movie (Coyote Ugly) on it.