Comments on: Princeton Toy-Gun Shutdown Brings Back Memories

By: leland

leland — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:12:05 +0000

David, how wonderful to hear from you. I’ve heard more than my share of Weinstein stories over the years, too; I feel like I know you. i listened to those cassettes that you used to make of Vin Scelsa shows you used to send to Gil. You’re so right about things changing since the Fanner Fifty heyday. Mine stays down here with me in the basement

By: dsweinstein

dsweinstein — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:08:18 +0000

Oh my – I complete forgot until reading your post that I once also had a Fanner Fifty (and probably somewhere a photo of me dressed up like Gil at age 5 or so in cowboy duds). I couldn’t help thinking about the story: if you had been a black man in NY, Philly or LA, you probably wouldn’t be around to write the story! Life was oh so much more innocent in suburbia in the days whenFanner Fifties were new! (I’m a very long-time friend of Gil’s and have heard lots of Leland stories over the years)

By: gilasakawa

gilasakawa — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:19:21 +0000

Thanks for bringing this story back to life, Leland. Ahh, we have such great memories of writing the Toy Book! It’s worth a book in itself — not that anyone else but us would read it!

By: leland

leland — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:02:14 +0000

I have thought about that many times over the years. Officer Moon’s finger wasn’t that trigger-happy, and I was very lucky.

By: Kathy Kaiser

Kathy Kaiser — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:52:08 +0000

That original Daily column was powerful, because what seemed trivial was potentially serious. You could have easily been killed. In fact, in different situations, men (especially minorities) have been shot dead.