Today's MOZEN: The Bucket List - NYE in Times Square

All words and photos by F LoBuono

During my long career as a photojournalist for CBS News in New York, I had the opportunity to not only experience the events many would include on their so-called Bucket Lists, but to be well-paid for it to boot (an important distinction - more later).

These lists often include events that may present challenges with participating in but appear to be worth the experience - well, at least once anyway.

2 of these are Mardi Gras in New Orleans and New Years Eve in Times Square. 

We'll save Mardi Gras for Lent.

I covered New Years Eve from Times Square about a half dozen times for CBS (about 5X's too many). And, I have to say that it is everything that a Bucket-List event should be - because it IS an enormous challenge to accomplish for a very rewarding experience, even if the culmination lasts but a few, shinning moments.

As a photographer, my day started early and ended the same way - early the NEXT day. We would take a taxi from the CBS Broadcast Center on W57th St. with our gear as far as we could go and fight the already assembling crowds to get to our position at the main stage in the heart of Times Square. One year, the crowd was thick that a couple of burly NYPD officers literally passed me, my partner - and our gear - over the crowd to get in place!

The Main Stage, Times Square

By the time we finally got in with our stuff it must have been around noon. We would be on the multi-level platform facing the Main Performance Stage just below the legendary Ball Drop.

You certainly couldn't get a better seat in the house. We were usually situated in the position just below CNN. I remember how they started with Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper - before she committed professional suicide and was replaced by Andy Cohen.

Traditionally, next to us was one of the Spanish stations which always managed to rock the platform with too many people having way too good a time!

And, I remember the weather.

Some years we got lucky and the temperatures hovered at freezing or just above. But, I recall that most years we battled the brutal cold for hours at end. At least I could move around the platform a bit, mingle with the crown for interviews, and even use a bathroom in a nearby hotel that was reserved for the press. The civilians waiting in the cattle pens lining Times Square would have no such luxury.

Still, it was enormously challenging. I can still feel the near frostbite in my fingers and toes! I can only imagine how those poor bastards penned up with no chance for leaving until released managed. It must have been very high on their lists for them to go through this.

As the day, evening, and night wore on, the excitement continued to build and it was palpable. The performers were deliberately chosen for their pulsating stage presence - and they never disappointed, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

Despite the cold and what must have been bursting bladders (NO bathroom trips allowed), the crowd was simply euphoric. They were penned in like cattle, shoulder to shoulder, from every corner of the Country and Globe - for hours. Yet, there was NO violence. NO anger. NO Trouble - Only singing, comradery, and LOVE.

Millions of them!

Then, the Countdown beings:

TEN, NINE, EIGHT . . . 

The excitement builds to a fever pitch . . . 

THREE, TWO, ONE . . .

Then EUPHORIA .

HAPPY YEAR!!

We an explosion of fireworks and the dropping of a magnificent crystal ball, the enormous crowd erupts as one - singing, crying, and hugging.

I've never experienced a single, collective moment of good will like it. Even if for a brief moment, the WORLD IS AS ONE.

And, that my friends, is why it's worth it -

. . . and, I got paid a lot.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - EVERYONE!!

Epilogue: The NYPD and the Department of Sanitation are among the best in the world. Millions of people have assembled, virtually without incident - and, the detritus from it is cleaned up with an hour. 

The Clean up

Today's MOZEN: Moving On

The world keeps turning - sometimes in odd and ironic ways - but turn it does.

I was a recent recipient of just such an ironic twist.

21 years ago, at the age of 45, I decided to marry for the first time. Not only did I marry, but I decided that after all those years of childless bachelorhood, I choose a woman with three, healthy, wild boys aged 12-16.

I like challenges.

My friends thought that I was crazy.

They were probably right.

But, despite her three children, Catherine (who very appropriately asked to be called Cat, never Cathy) was wonderfully wild and fiercely independent. Like the proverbial moth to flame, I couldn't resist.

We burned brightly - for a while. When we were right, we could light up a room with our energy.

And, we traveled the world.

But, then, things changed and we drifted. We no longer had that creative energy that drove our wagon. We started to go our separate ways more and more until, one day, Cat simply went away - entirely.

After 12 years of marriage she decided that she needed to find another way to happiness and just split. She took a 10 week temporary lease on an apartment in the City, something she had always dreamed of doing. The boys (now men) and I were left to fend for ourselves - and we did - as best we could - until it all fell apart. it wasn't as if we were destitute but our center was gone.

I thought there was gas left in that car. I mean, who junks a car simply because it needs to be refueled or tuned-up?

But, that was just me.

Literally.

It was over.

Still, I dallied for a full ten years. 10 years!

Perhaps, in the back of my head, I always believed that somehow we would be able to come together to recapture that old magic we once had. And, I made half-hearted attempts at reconciliation - all to no avail. But, it was also simple laziness. After all, it was just over and no peace of paper was going to change that. That's between two people. So, why bother?

It takes two to tango and I found myself dancing in the dark - alone.

She was no longer interested - and never would be again.

It was time to take action. There were legal implications. Who would inherit my vast fortune, etc.? LOL

After a grueling, brutal process that was MUCH more difficult than it should have been (a post for another day), We finally completed and filed the paperwork with the Rockland County Court to begin our final chapter - divorce.

This happened on Christmas Eve, 21 years to the day to the day I first proposed - and, she said, yes.

On the drive home, in a further twist of fate, Anne Lennox' version of The Clash's, Train In Vain, played on the radio.

The irony was not lost - on me, at least.

Almost a Shakespearean Tragedy, don't you think?

Or, perhaps, a comedy instead.

There was noting to contest anyway. We have no children together. The grand house we owned is long ago sold and the bounty divided. I have no claim on any of her property and she none on mine. And, I want nothing. Nothing. I don't even have a wedding photo.

It was what it was, when it was . . . 

Indeed my friends, World Keeps Turning.

 

Today's MOSTLY TRUE SHORT STORY: Christmas - Then and Now

With Stella

When I was a kid, Christmas was always a modest affair at the LoBuono's - well, with the exception of the incredible food we had on both the Eve and Day.

The Eve in particular, with the legendary, traditional Sicilian Feast of the Seven Fishes, prepared by hand over the course of several days by my mother, Stella, our house was the envy of many of my non-participating friends. To get an invite to the feast was a much- coveted ticket! Shrimp, in various forms, calamari - both fried and sautéed, fillet of sole, and, of course, my mother's favorite, Baccala, or salted cod, that she had soaked in water for days and prepared in a potato soup, was served with sturdy red wine (and club soda, of course).

Yes. Those were the days. Stella is nearly 98 and no longer capable of making that kind of effort. My sister is simply too busy. And, I'm a good cook - just not that good! But, all is not lost - we have it catered now - maybe not the same but who cares? The food is always excellent and we eat TOGETHER.

Back to the past -

We did our best to decorate our house with strings of lights. I always wanted to do more but Stella would have none of it - understatement was more her thing. And, she may have been right. Her favorite thing was a few strings of simple, white lights strung over the lilac tree in the center of our yard. It was beautiful. Stella also didn't like pine needles all over the living room so we always had a nice, white (or silver) tree - never real - I always missed that wonderful fresh, earthy smell. But, I must say that both my mother AND father did have beautiful, traditional ornaments, many of them family heirlooms, to decorate the tree with, making it beautiful still.

Of course, there were presents under that tree - but, not many. We received one gift from our parents, one from each our grandmothers, and one from my mother's sister (my aunt, Anna Maria). My brother and sister contributed when they could (not that often, LOL). Our parents were not of great means but always did their best to get us that one gift that we wanted so very much. I was always thrilled to receive just about anything. A new baseball mitt might have sent me off squealing with glee. My sister was not so easy to please and couldn't help hiding her disappointment if she didn't get the exact gift she had asked for.

The rest of our bounty usually provided the other ancillary stuff that we didn't necessarily want but sure needed! With the possible exception of a nice sweater or shirt, that usually meant things like underwear and socks. We always feigned great pleasure at having received them.

We opened most of them on Christmas Eve. We simply couldn't wait for the morning! We may have left one or two (or our parents hid them) to have one more dose of excitement for the morning but the majority were eagerly exchanged on the Eve.

Well, 50+ years later and some things have changed and some haven't. We're so much smaller as a family that our wonderful meals have not been eliminated but greatly reduced. None of us had children so, sadly, many of the traditions just faded away. Those BIG Christmas Day meals at my grandmother's in Brooklyn with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins are gone forever. And, we are still very modest with our giving (and receiving). It was just never THAT important and still isn't. What IS crucial is that those of us who have survived are TOGETHER  and will celebrate that very fact.

And, one more thing - as for the underwear and socks? I've aged to the point where I actually asked for them - and, slippers too!

MERRY CHRISTMAS - PEACE ON EARTH - GOODWILL TO ALL