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.)

Also available as an MP3 podcast. More info at our Podcast Central page.

September 30, 2014: The Trip To Lindenhurst
Last Monday, September 22, I took what should be my final trip to my hometown, Lindenhurst, NY. I don't know what reason would bring me back again now that my mother's house has sold. My friend Glenn Katz (see below) joked about doing a nostalgia run out there but I've never been all that nostalgic. Nostalgia, to me, implies seeing the past through sepia-tinted glasses. Even as a kid, though my eyesight was poor, my vision was unblinkered.

The drive out to Long Island was brutal, as usual, with traffic bogging down many times along my chosen route and my old diesel Mercedes acting like it, too, didn't want to make the trip. I had no time to do my customary drive down Wellwood Avenue, the main drag in Lindenhurst, and instead headed straight to the house. I was a bit shocked by what I found. The house was still full of stuff. Even after the estate sale, after my brother and sister and I took what we wanted and threw out the rest there was still crap in every room. And I mean "crap". Sewing machine parts for sewing machines long gone. Office supplies for a nonexistent office. Cutlery that would never see a dinner plate.

My sister rented a big van, to move two china cabinets and a few other items. I filled three or four boxes with a computer monitor, a shelf stereo system and some other electronic odds and ends. The big item, for me, was the Victrola cabinet my father turned into a stereo hideaway. It hadn't sold at the estate sale and I didn't want to see it put on the curb. I manhandled it into my trunk and bungeed the lid down.

We spent hours filling up fourteen contractor-size garbage bags, leaving them lined up in the driveway along with some "curb alert" items I put on craigslist. Before long, my brother was off to work and my sister headed back to Rhode Island, leaving me there by myself. I had my recorder with me and I went room to room saying goodbye to the place and all - good and bad - that happened there. A certain numbness descended on me... the rush of memories was threatening to overwhelm and I needed to gird myself for the long trip back to New Jersey. I got in my car and made it to the end of the block when I decided to get one last meal at Southside Fish & Clam, "Home of the Twin Lobster Dinner".

Southside has been on the corner of Montauk Highway and South 5th as long as I can remember. My family used to eat there once a week. We'd either walk down the block or one of us would go and pick up an order and bring it home. One of my first jobs - I was probably fourteen - was as a general clean-up help there. It's also where I took my first electric guitar to destroy it.

I went in and got some grilled scallops with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. I was enjoying it until I saw someone else dig into their twin lobsters. Then I reminded myself I wasn't in the mood to crack open one lobster, never mind two. I finished up and missed my second chance to do a circuit through town, checking out the old landmarks and saying goodbye. It was already late and I didn't know what to expect from the car. As it was, I almost got stranded on the Wantagh Parkway. There was a grade heading toward Northern Parkway and I thought for sure I was going to slow down to the point I was going backwards. It was like some force was literally pulling me back, refusing to let me go. If I believed in such things, that is. As it turns out, my mechanic says the likely culprit is a clogged fuel filter from algae in the tank.

Tonight, let's talk about your hometown and mine, and what became of the house in which you grew. Call 201-209-WFMU and let's go home again.

Listen to this show:  Pop-up player!