See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Carmine Santa Maria
Brooklyn Daily
I’m madder than a holy mackerel that got that away because he got caught on the business end of a pick axe over the fact that time is flying by so fast I can’t keep up with it!
Case in point: this week is Holy Week and I haven’t even had time to watch all the Betamax movies I got for Christmas on the Zenith in the living room. But that’s not the worst of it! The worst of it, actually, is the fact that classic Brooklynites — and friends of yours truly — are dropping like flies.
Now, I know you read my completely unedited obit of my good friend Lou Powsner, who passed away last week at the age of almost 94. Lou was my first vice president at my grassroots group with the most awesome acronym ever, BWECC!
Now, here’s what you didn’t know. As fate would happen, one of my long-time movie favorites, Mickey Rooney, died the same day. Look, I don’t need to tell you that Lou shared his life with his loving wife Irene for more than 60 years. Rooney, on the other hand, had eight wives (and was apparently married to the track). But his marriage to Ava Gardner (how heck did that happen!!) didn’t last 60 weeks. However, with or without wives, Micky had a phenomenal and productive career. Whereas, Mickey had a legacy on film, Lou had a legacy in print that will perpetuate his greatness. They will certainly be missed!
Speaking of remembering Lou, I have to thank Jeannine Cherichetti for driving me to the shiva Lou’s family held at his home on Avenue P. The drive brought up a few items of interest that I’ll share with you. I reminded Jeannine of BWECC’s April 24 meeting on Thursday, which will have a presentation on fire safety by — you guessed it — the Fire Department, which will be distributing free carbon monoxide alarms. Carbon monoxide is the deadly gas that fell the two brave Police Officers Guerra and Rodriguez from the 60th Precinct in Coney Island. Our hearts are grief stricken for the fallen heroes and the families they left behind.
On the bright side of this trip, Jeannine said she would not be at the meeting because she will be celebrating her Big 50th with friends in Bloomberg’s City of Oz. I gave her our Screecher blessing and allowed her to miss the meeting, knowing full well that it will be jammed packed. Meanwhile Jeannine was recently hired by our old friend and new Councilman Mark Treyger, and we passed its office on Stillwell Avenue. During this 10 minute odyssey of events, she received a call from Olga Fiore from state Sen. Diane Savino’s office to confirm the time of their dinner appointment at Gino’s Restaurant. Their other friend Cindy also called, and she was all stressed out over a somebody cracking into her checking account, a scam that will undoubtedly screw up her finances for months. I’ll have more on this scam alert as I get the info, and will certainly mention it at this week’s meeting.
Getting back to the April holidays; starting with this past Palm Sunday, then onto Passover which started on Tuesday. Good Friday follows, then Holy Saturday, and then Easter Sunday. For us, that means lots of seafood. And as you all know, when I see food, I eat it.
That reminds me of the time on April 15, which doomsday prognosticators prognosticated that, with the sun, Earth, and moon in direct line, an apocalyptic disasters would ensue. So, with that foreboding news, we headed over to Lenny’s Clam Bar on Cross Bay Boulevard to pig out (of course, this is a make up luncheon date. Originally, we were supposed to eat there when they rolled-back specials of $5.98 prices a dish of 50 years ago).
We ate and ate and ate, and had a blast. We mentioned Frank Sinatra Jr., but didn’t get a free glass of wine.
Enjoy your holidays, ignore distressing news, and do not believe those crazy weathermen! Never leave your home without a steel umbrella, rain gear, ponchos, water, canned goods, a rowboat, your American Express card, and and above all else, your daily bread from this week’s shameless plug, Bread Plus bakery on Harway Avenue between Bay 49th and Bay 50th streets.
Enjoy your holidays, whichever they are, and you know the kids are because there’s no school. Yeah!
Screech at you next week!