re: #13 makeitstop

OT: Re Breslin and Berry… I mentioned on an earlier thread that Breslin’s influence on journalism was similar to Chuck’s influence on rock - both developed a shorthand that was accepted as How It Was Done for their respective milieus.

But while Breslin’s list of contemporaries was shorter than Chuck’s, his influence showed up in different media. Look at Springsteen’s first two albums, rife with nicknames that evoked a certain type, ‘Crazy Janie’ on the first album or ‘The Magic Rat’ in Born to Run’s ‘Jungleland.’

And how much of Scorcese’s work was informed by the types that Breslin illustrated so beautifully? You could almost imagine Breslin writing a column about Travis Bickle or Rupert Pupkin.

It’s become a sad weekend. The guy who established the DNA of rock is now gone, and the man who went into seemingly every neighborhood in New York City to introduce us to the quirks and customs and prejudices and weird beauty that they held is gone along with him.

We’re not getting replacements for either of them any time soon, if ever.

On another Scorsese note, I seem to recall my brother telling me that Jimmy Burke threatened Breslin one time at a bar. I agree. Both Berry and Breslin were originals and the world is a sadder place without them.