Before getting into the business of restoring old soda machines, i was in the T-shirt business for many years. Me and a couple of friends started printing shirts in 1977 on my best friends parents porch. Although we would print anything to make a buck we really loved printing shirts of our favorite rock bands. It was right around that time we got into punk rock, and our favorite punk band was The Clash ! So a few years later when we got to do the printing for the official Clash at Bonds Casino gig in NY City we where ecstatic. We printed the shirts, drove them to NY City, sold them in the streets and even manned a concession stand in the show. Talk about a great time, hanging out in NY City, selling shirts and going to Clash concerts.

My memory is a little hazy, not sure how many shows we saw or how long we stayed in NY but we where there on May 30TH.

The Clash were originally scheduled to play eight shows: May 28, 29, 30, 31 and June 1,2, 3, and 5, 1981.

But on May 30TH the concert was canceled by the Fire Department because of over crowded conditions. The promoter sold far to many tickets than the place could hold and it almost caused a riot around the theater which was in Times Square. Police on horse back pushing people out of the streets, people running around yelling who knows what.

But eventually order was restored and no one was hurt and The Clash being a band of the people decided to honor every ticket that was sold and kept playing every night until all tickets where used.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and if you have any memories of when the Clash took over the Bonds Casino in NY City please share them here.

“White riot - I wanna riot White riot - a riot of my own” The Clash

Growing up in an Italian family meant home cooked dinners on the table every night. Mom would spend most of the afternoon in the kitchen preparing great dishes. Meatballs, sauce and made from scratch raviolis. No jars of sauce graced those cabinets.

I was fortunate enough to have 2 very close friends growing up. One 2 doors down and the other 2 doors up. I remember being 2 doors up around meal time one afternoon. When asked to stay, I accepted. Whatever was in the oven smelled good to me so when we took our seats at the table I was intrigued with these silver trays with little compartments filled with food.

There was fried chicken, a vegetable medley, mashed potatoes and yes, even dessert!! Well I just thought this was the best thing. No table to set, no dishes to wash,(both chores which were delegated to me at home) and it was yummy.

When i returned home Mom asked…”how was dinner?” “Mom, it was delicious, we need to get some of these little packaged meals when we go shopping this week.”
Must have been the wrong thing to say…she stopped what she was doing and exclaimed…TV Dinners…Not In This House!!!

Now some 30 plus years later, as i stroll the frozen food aisle, I still stop and eye the Swanson’s dinners but realize that what I was most fascinated with was the trays they were served in.

On a trip to Stonewall Kitchen, lo and behold there sat the modern version of those TV dinner style plates. Heavy duty ceramic in pastel green, blue and white. Dishwasher, microwave and oven safe. Now I have my own TV dinners (with homemade food of course) and I swear it just tastes better!!