Aerial View was WFMU’s first regularly-scheduled phone-in talk show. Hosted by Chris T. and on the air since 1989, the show features topical conversation, interviews and many trips down the rabbit hole. Until further notice, Aerial View is only available as a podcast, available every Tuesday morning. Subscribe to the newsletter “See You Next Tuesday!” and find tons of archives at aerialview.me. (Visit homepage.)

February 24, 2015: Chris T. Back at the Melrose Flea

View this in your browser Tonight: Back at the Melrose Trading Post Last Easter Sunday while on vacation in Los Angeles I went to the Melrose Trading Post Flea Market in Hollywood and recorded an on-location Aerial View show. Because it's one of my favorite  flea markets, I decided to return this year with a better recorder and speak with different vendors. It was a balmy 81 degrees as I visited with people selling everything from French Provincial furniture to taxidermy bats to jewelry trees to balms to menswear to repurposed guitar amps to the detritus of your childhood.  Check out the photos, below, and I'll see you tonight at the Melrose Trading Post! in the warm California sun! 1. Alyssa   2. Need a collator? 3. Bats for Bats   4. Jewelry Trees 5. 420 Table   6. Cleaning up 7. Zuno   8. Irena & stopwatch 9 & 10: Miguel Garcia's repurposed guitar amps Listen to this show:  Pop-up player! Tonight (Too): Chris T. on Morricone Island! I'm filling in for Devon on Morricone Island tonight and will be playing soundtrack music from some of my favorite composers, including Nino Rota, Bernard Hermann, Wendy Carlos, Carter Burwell and Curtis Mayfield, among others. Don't expect the deep level of expertise you get from Devon every week but I hope to keep you entertained until the Ragged Antique Phonograph Hour rolls around. Kaz at the Chinese Theater. Click on the photo to see a video of our tour. Last Week: Let's Unravel Your Travel! Last week I was joined by Kaz for a journey downHollywood Boulevard, from the Roosevelt Hotel to Boardner's Bar. Along the way, we spoke with Tinkerbell, Iron Man, Bumble Bee, Holllywood Guitar Player "Shreds Truckee",  a very drunk trumpet player and many more Tinseltown denizens! Click on the photo above to see video of our tour. Here are some playlist comments: That's it, I'm moving to Los Angeles. Kaz's "Talking Squirrel" strip from "Underworld" is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. ChrisT is master of the walking tour show. The Radio city one was great in Dec. Good weather and no Chris Christie. Kaz is from the East Coast right? He definitely still has the New York pace/vibe to him. Last time I was in Hollywood I snuck into the Hollywood Forever cemetery in the middle of the night with some friends. I wanted to call in last week with that as a memorable experience but didn't get a chance. That was a blast. Captain Al's Scrapbook I wrote this piece in 1999, for a local newspaper. It never ran. I present it here for the first time. It may be sixteen years old but Jersey City politics haven't changed much. The souvenir T-shirts on sale inside read: “I survived the millennium at Captain’s Al’s Harbor Casino. It’s Not The End of The World But You Can See It From There”. If the end of the world means Lady Liberty’s derriere you can certainly see that from just outside Captain Al’s door. She faces out to New York Harbor, her back to you, so close you feel you could reach out, tap her on the shoulder and ask, “Was it something I said?”   Step inside Captain Al’s and you feel a different kind of liberty: a sailor’s liberty. Captain Al’s is a waterfront bar without shame. Every square inch of wall and ceiling is covered with nets, rigging, the occasional spar or propeller, plastic lobsters, crabs, fish - whatever nautical nicety Captain Al felt like nailing up. The low ceiling and plank-top bar add to the feeling you’ve just set sail.   But it wasn’t always that way.   In 1967 “Captain” Al Chowanec convinced his teetotalling father to let him and his brothers open a tavern on the ground floor of the family’s low Warren Street rowhouse. Serving the working people of the surrounding area food, drink and politics, the place was originally know as “Al Chowanec’s Harbor Casino”. And the walls were covered not with nautical knick-knacks but pictures of politicians.   Those pictures now bulge a photo album Captain Al has set down between us, at a table near the kitchen. Referring to himself as a “regular organization Democrat” and “one of the oldest Democratic Committee people in Hudson County”, Captain Al begins flippng the pages, reminiscing about his career in New Jersey politics. Names like Bradley, Gallo, Hague, Kenney, O’Riley, Whelan, accompany the pictures he lays down before me. He’s the one constant in all the photos, always grinning, the man who has the ear of the man at the epicenter.   He’s showing me a picture of himself with Bill O’Dea, talks about how O’Dea has now run four times for the Freeholder seat, saying “We went to war against Janisweski and we won”. I ask him what’s behind the war, what objection “Bobby” (Janisweski) has to O’Dea.   “His wife didn’t like the idea that I put Bill O’Dea up for Freeholder. She was pissed off. He’s an honest kid. Billy’s not a rubber-stamp politician. Billy believes in doing the right thing for the people. And - believe me - he has a conscience he has to live with.” he answers.   More pictures flip past, Al, clearly drifting back through the years, says “I work with the people downtown here. Ya understand? That’s why I was elected all these years in a row. In the past two years Janisweski’s wife thought that she could replace me here because I was the only one they couldn’t control. So they ran people against me from the neighborhood here but they picked people who only lived here for a year or two. So they were phonies. Now Janisweski moved out of here. He moved to Port Liberte, to his million-and-a-half dollar house. So now they’re wondering if I’ll move over there and run for office.   More pictures. “Al Siminsky. He’s dead. He was the old police director. That’s McGinty. He’s the guy that ran away with the million dollars, from the Democratic War Chest, when John Kenney went to jail. That’s Wally Shields, he used to be the Senator. We made him the Senator.”   I want to get to the bottom of just how machine politics work in Jersey City but right now I’m WAY in over my head. “This is Frank Orini. This picture was taken at the first cocktail party I threw for Frank Orini. You don’t know Frank Orini?”   “No.” I answer. ”Oh my God. What’d they send you down here for. You don’t know anybody?” I’m wondering if I can pull the life preserver off the wall and save myself from drowning but Al keeps plowing through the pictures and I say, “I’m getting an education, anyway.”   Al keeps going: “This is Wally Wolf. This is Billy Boyle. Right? And this is Ike Esposito. And this is John Jaroski. This used to be our Polish leader down here and that’s Neil Pecararo. They all come in here. This was the political stronghold.”   More pages, more pictures spill out: “I was the only Russian on the Columbus Day Parade Committee.” Al comes across a photo of the chemical company that used to sit across the street. I ask him what they’re building over there. “Townhouses.” he says. “My district’s gonna be big here. It went from two-hundred up to four-hundred, now and it’s gonna go up well over fifteen, eighteen hundred.”   “Is all this development something you’re comfortable with?”, I ask.   “Yeah. Sure I am. Sure. Why not? What’re ya wanna do, isolate yourself from the rest of the world. A lot of people tell you they’re uncomfortable with it. That’s because these people just moved here two, three years ago and they came here either from Montana or Utah or the middle of New York and they bought these houses up real cheap and they thought they were gonna have a la-la land. The neighborhood’s building up. They’ve taken vacant lots like this (he motions across the street) and people are buying them as investments and building. Some people don’t like it, they think it’s ruining their quality of life but in the meantime it’s increasing their property value, I think,  and beautifying the neighborhood.”   Al goes through more photos: nuns getting checks, priests getting food donations, parties he’s thrown. He stops at a team shot of kids in softball uniforms: “I’ve helped alot of people over the years. These guys are all grown ups now. And they know what I’ve done down in this neighborhood. People got burnt out on Bay Street, I was the first one go over there with clothing and food. Stuff like that. Little League, buy uniforms for the kids, do the kidney foundation thing, do the Senior Citizens out there, feed them, send them home with a bag. That’s something the politicians don’t give them. And I give out of my own pocket. I don’t go selling tickets. Never sold a ticket in my life, for any kind of affair.”   “So where does Janisweski’s power come from?” I ask. “From Beth!” he laughs. Then he gets serious: “What power base? From Sacco. Ward Hudson. THAT’S what keeps him alive! You get Sacco comes in with nine thousand votes, Serias comes in with four thousand votes - the only one he was fighting against was Russo. He lost North Bergen, he lost Bayonne. In Jersey City, twenty-eight thousand. I think if someone strong would’ve run, like a McCann or an O’Dea, it would’ve been a different situation. See, Bobby’s a great guy (he shows me a picture of the two of them). Ya see? Years and years him and I palled out together. And I told him a hundred times, you gotta be able to take care of the people that are with you. You take care of the people.”   I thank him and prepare to leave. Al holds the picture of him with Janisweski and says, wistfully, “Yeah, I think it was Beth (that objected to Bill O’Dea). It was more Beth than Bobby. As far as I’m concerned, he’s still a good friend of mine. It’s not about beating Bobby, it’s about winning, standing up for what you believe in. What you do is go the people and say ‘Listen, I’m running against these people here and they’re backed by Bob Janisweski and I’m fighting’. And I win. I don’t know what it means about how they like Bobby... but apparently they like me better than they like Bobby down here. And I’m just the little guy.”   Right now, the “little guy” has a dozen or more “Bill Bradley for President” posters tacked up inside and outside his tavern . I ask him about this endorsement, he says, “That’s who I’m gonna vote for. That’s who my family’s gonna vote for and that’s who my friends are gonna vote for.”   And that’s probably who you’re gonna vote for, even if you don’t know it yet. The "F" is for "Fundraising", "M" for Marathon WFMU's Fundraising Marathon begins Sunday, March 8 and runs until Sunday, March 22. During those two weeks we raise the bulk of the money that keeps the lights turned on and the turntables spinning. If all you know is other public radio Marathons, you're in for a treat: ours is some of the best radio WFMU does each year. WFMU DJs and hosts visit each other's shows and the cross-pollination leads to some great listening. We also have incredible prizes and premiums for pledging. My guest MCs this year are Jim the Poet of Sportsy Talk and Pseu Braun of Pseu's Thing With A Hook and the Pseu Braun Show. I'll be MCing with Billy Jam on Put The Needle On The Record, Fri., March 13 and with Rex Doane on Fool's Paradise Sat., March 21, The Aerial View Premium this year - yours for a pledge of just $75 or more - is the 4th edition of the Aerial View lighter (above). This one has has a beautiful goldtone finish and features the Chris T. "Ace Face" illustration by Two-Fisted Titan of Gusto Jack "Hot Wahini" Taylor. If you've been enjoying this newsletter and the kickass radio show that accompanies it, Aerial View, please pledge. And remember: you can also adopt me! Upcoming Chris T. Stuff Saturday, May 2 I'll be selling records, CDs, cassettes, DVDs, books, old paper and lots of interesting collectibles at the WFMU Record Fair, this year in BROOKLYN! Saturday, May 30 I return to the Asbury Park Punk Rock Flea Market with whatever's left over from the WFMU Record Fair! Obligatory Throwback Pic Looking for the Beverly Hillbillies mansion, 2006. OVER THE AIR: Every Tuesday night, 6 PM Eastern time on WFMU in the metro NY/NJ area at 91.1 FM and on WMFU at 90.1 in the lower Catskills, Hudson Valley, western New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. ON THE WEB: Streaming audio in several formats is available at wfmu.org. ON DEMAND ARCHIVES: The Aerial View Archive page features archives going back to nearly the beginning of the show in RealAudio and MP3 format. PODCAST: Aerial View is available on iTunes as a podcast. WFMU MOBILE: Listen live via the mobile app or browse the archives. Get the iOS app here and the Android version here. Amazon Kindle users can use the TuneIn Radio app. Info for other platforms, including Blackberry, etc. can be found here. AUDIOBOOM: The newest way to hear Aerial View and share it on social media can be found here. Mobile apps are here. Artist Track Album Label Year Format Comments Images New * / Special *** Approx. start time Chris 2pac T.  California Aerial View Love   → "California Aerial View Love" by "Chris 2pac T." Aerial View Intros    2015  WAV          Angelo Badalamenti  Twin Peaks Theme   → "Twin Peaks Theme" by "Angelo Badalamenti" Soundtrack from Twin Peaks    1990  CD          Angeleo Badalementi  Night Life In Twin Peaks   → "Night Life In Twin Peaks" by "Angeleo Badalementi" Soundtrack from Twin Peaks    1990  CD          Angelo Badalamenti  The Pink Room   → "The Pink Room" by "Angelo Badalamenti" Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me (Soundtrack)    1992  CD          Bernard Hermann  Taxi Driver (Prelude)   → "Taxi Driver (Prelude)" by "Bernard Hermann" Films of the Century      CD          Jürgen Knieper  Der Himmel Uber Berlin   → "Der Himmel Uber Berlin" by "Jürgen Knieper" Wings Of Desire Original Motion Picture Soundtrack      CD          Elliot Goldenthal  Victorius Titus   → "Victorius Titus" by "Elliot Goldenthal" Titus Original Motion Picture Soundtrack    2000  CD          Brian May  Finale and Largo   → "Finale and Largo" by "Brian May" Mad Max 2 Soundtrack    1990  MP3          Wendy Carlos  The Thieving Magpie (exerpt)   → "The Thieving Magpie (exerpt)" by "Wendy Carlos" Clockwork Orange OST    1972  CD          Ennio Morricone  Navajo Joe (Original Main Title)   → "Navajo Joe (Original Main Title)" by "Ennio Morri... A Fistful of Film Music: The Ennio Morricone Anthology    1995  CD          Harry Nilsson  I'm Mean   → "I'm Mean" by "Harry Nilsson" Popeye Demos    1980  WAV          Carter Burwell  Prologue   → "Prologue" by "Carter Burwell" Hudsucker Proxy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack    1994  CD          Curtis Mayfield  Back Against The Wall   → "Back Against The Wall" by "Curtis Mayfield" Short Eyes - The Original Picture Soundtrack    1977  MP3  Featuring Ernie Isley on guitar.        <-- Previous playlist | Back to Aerial View playlists | Next playlist --> RSS feeds for Aerial View: Playlists feed | MP3 archives feed | Email the Program Director | Other WFMU Playlists | All artists played by Aerial View | Listen on the Internet | Contact Us | Music & Programs | WFMU Home Page | Support Us | FAQ Live Audio Streams for WFMU: Pop-up | 128k AAC | 128k MP3 | 32k MP3    (More streams: [+]) Give the Drummer Radio: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Rock'N'Soul Radio: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Sheena's Jungle Room: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Listener comments! 6:01pm → Marcel M: Hello hello   6:02pm → V Priceless: Hey Chris! Hey Marcel! 6:03pm → Marcel M: Hey Priceless!   6:05pm → Chris T.: Hello all! Thanks for being here. 6:09pm → Marcel M: The DJ speaks!!! Hi Chris. I wish I was in CA!!!!   6:12pm → LES: Always love the tours ChrisT. 6:13pm → dale: that $420 pot-themed coffee table is pretty - fugly. 6:17pm → Marcel M: But dale you can get your friends really high and then wait for the PERFECT moment to tell them you payed $420 for it... maybe even right at 4:20 pm!!!! 6:19pm → dale: nah - i'd invest my money in stuffed fruit bats. 6:21pm → Mike East: the fruit bats freak me out a little bit. 6:22pm → dale: i sold some vintage clothing and such at a small flea at a 7th avenue school yard in brooklyn. a lot of people were terrible and off you a quarter of your asking price. when you said 'no thank you' they would get really indignant. 6:23pm → Mike East: and yes, I agree, that 420 table is fucking ugly. 6:24pm → Ken From Hyde Park: I went to the Maybrook Flea Market years ago and I forgot all about the place. Turns out it closed fifteen years ago - www.recordonline.com... 6:24pm → dale: if you're gonna charge that kind of money DON'T USE 2X4s! 6:24pm → Mike East: my wife stuck her hand in a stuff alligator head as a joke in New Orleans last year and cut herself pretty bad.   6:25pm → fdurieux: 'I am gonna think about it'.... what and excuse :-D 6:26pm → dale: ken - i went there when i first moved up! i used to go to stormville but the traffic got ridiculous.   6:26pm → Cold Tina: Go back for the stuffed bat. That is a good price. And bring me back some 81 and sunny.   6:28pm → V Priceless: How much for a small box of heat? 6:29pm → dale: ooh, we get to hear mrs. t 6:30pm → Marcel M: Do you have to apply to be able to sell at flea markets like this? How does it work? 6:32pm → dale: marcel - go to flea market. ask vendor where/who the manager is. take it from there. 6:32pm → Marcel M: Ah, thats quite simple.   6:33pm → JakeGould: I wish I could see that table. Real Internet down. Pocket Internet up. I assume that table is filled with marijuana leaves. Can only truly appreciate it at 4:20AM.   6:34pm → LES: Is that booth in the GIF really selling old plumbing knobs screwed onto a board 6:35pm → dale: i took chris t. for a bolo tie guy. 6:36pm → Mike East: @LES - I'm guessing to be used as a coat/hat rack. Or possibly just a waste of space.   6:38pm → JakeGould: You guys have no idea how many pieces of wood with random junk stuck on them are sold for like $40-$70 a pop at local flea markets in the US. 6:39pm → Mike East: dang, why no pic of the tie, Chris? 6:41pm → Marcel M: Woah Chris you are calling records vinyl? 6:42pm → Marcel M: Or are we talking vinyl made products?   6:42pm → LES: In that case my wife and I are going to our storage space with boards and a glue gun $$$   6:44pm → Chris T.: I still say "vinyl", I never say "vinyls".   6:44pm → Chris T.: No pic of the tie, Mike, because it was too hard to handle the money, the recorder and the phone (camera) all at the same time. 6:45pm → dale: i go to farm auctions and women always buy old handsaws to paint a bad scene on and then varnish. sad end for a noble hand tool. 6:45pm → Mike East: fair enough. 6:46pm → Chris T.: This guy slings some good bullshit. 6:47pm → Chris T.: The old faucet handles on the stake is a coat rack (or whatever you want to hang).   6:48pm → Cold Tina: Cali talk seller! 6:53pm → dale: hard to argue those economics chris - she's giving it away when she puts it in those terms! 6:55pm → dale: i love that this is all (i assume) underground economy. the revenuers have enough.   6:57pm → JakeGould: Basic advice: If you know how to sand, paint   6:57pm → LES: Never wanted to go to LA until now. Good show ChrisT   6:58pm → JakeGould: Dammit! Cut off. Basically if you gave basic hardware skills you can sell anything at a flea market. 6:59pm → dale: he should put vintage beam decanters in there - like the bob hope desert classic '68...   6:59pm → JakeGould: Yup, "upcycling!"   7:01pm → V Priceless: Yay Twin Peaks! 7:01pm → Marcel M: Oh man yes! I bought the Twin Peaks LP recently. I think they are reissuing it soon also. 7:02pm → dale: different comments board or same? 7:06pm → Chris T.: I tried to create a new show/playlist but no luck. I'll take a different approach.   7:06pm → V Priceless: Pretty sure Peaks was '90/'91...yeah that's why it's coming back 25 years later, to fulfill Laura Palmer's Black Lodge prophecy to Agent Cooper. She told him she'd see him in 25 years! 7:08pm → Marcel M: @V Priceless: Does she really?! I don't remember that. Thats fun.   7:09pm → JakeGould: Spring 1990 to Spring 1991.   7:10pm → V Priceless: Yeah, Marcel! How crazy is that? I still think it's Lynch's best work. 7:19pm → Marcel M: Thats cool! I'm a big fan as well. I'm wondering what the hell they are going to do with the new ones. Should prove interesting if nothing else!   7:24pm → V Priceless: Agreed. Hoping they pickup from where it ended actually. Shame some of the original cast is gone. It'll be interesting to see how many of the original players will return - that was such a mind-blowing cast!   7:26pm → V Priceless: Great stuff, Chris! 7:28pm → Marcel M: The girl who played Donna looks really wild now. She had a ton of plastic surgery. 7:28pm → Chris T.: Making sure the comments are still working. 7:30pm → Mike East: they seem to be working but I don't think they are "active"   7:32pm → V Priceless: Lara Flynn Boyle. Wasn't she Nicholson's main squeeze for a while?   7:35pm → JakeGould: "Boyle was in a two-year relationship with Twin Peaks partner Kyle MacLachlan. She also dated comedian David Spade. Then Boyle dated Jack Nicholson." She dated DAVID SPADE? Talk about a dip in quality.   7:37pm → V Priceless: Haha Jake! Was Jack her rebound from Spade? Now THAT would be funny!   7:38pm → V Priceless: Woo! W. Carlos! Nice, Chris!   7:42pm → JakeGould: David Spade: Must have had a big D? 7:42pm → Marcel M: Yeah was it in that order Jake? That would be hilarious. 7:44pm → Mike East: The the Jim Jarmusch movie, "Only Lovers Left Alive" has a great soundtrack for those interested...as do pretty much all of his films. Lots of really cool vintage guitars and recording gear, featured, too.   7:45pm → V Priceless: Gotta check that out, Mike - thanks. Of course, 'Dead Man' was fab. 7:48pm → Mike East: Yes, V Priceless! Neil Young...love that guitar! Jarmusch's band Squrl contributes heavily to this one. White Hills is in it, too. 7:50pm → Marcel M: Chris this is awesome! Thanks. 7:54pm → Marcel M: Now thats some nice fuzz wah 7:57pm → Jeff: I saw Short Eyes back when it was in the theaters. My memory of it doesn't include any music... all I remember is the horror. And... Don't molest children. Don't go to prison. And for God's sake, don't go to prison for molesting children.   7:59pm → V Priceless: Great shows, Chris! Thanx! 8:00pm → Marcel M: That was a lot of fun Chris and friends, have a good night! 8:08pm → Ken From Hyde Park: I liked the Curtis Mayfield at the end. Very nice selections. Comment! Name Email ✖ Re To songs (C) 2024 WFMU. Generated by KenzoDB, written 2000-2024 by Ken Garson To Comments!