New_years_iceNew_years_puppet New_years_joker New_years_mayor

First Night photos by Wayne Robbins.

10 replies on “What We Really Want to Know: Was Kreskin Amazing?”

  1. cathar, we need your review of the 1st night…or did u stay home and contemplate if ‘there is a there there?” while drinking a vodka neat?

  4. While I realize that the weather had a detrimental effect on the turnout at the parade, I couldn’t believe how LAME it was! There were 2 kids carrying the banner, the big puppet (which was really cool), and that small band, and that’s IT. Last year, I remember clowns, people on stilts, drummers, etc., and overall, a far more festive atmosphere. Plus, didn’t the parade ‘route’ end at the fountain where the ice carving was happening? Instead, that part of Church St was blocked by a police SUV. It just didn’t seem like anyone was in charge or offering direction. Too bad. With all of the talent living in and around Montclair, it really could have been a more festive start to the night.

  5. Ev:
    You’re right about the parade; the sound system didn’t show up, people were late because of the weather, it was really slippery on Church Street and the staff didn’t want to delay any more which would throw off the evening’s schedule…so, off we went with little fanfare and very few people. Fortunately, the rest of the evening was much more stimulating.

  6. Thanks to all the volunteers who worked to make First Night a success.
    To those who found First Night lacking, please consider volunteering to help with the event. It is a great way to meet your neighbors, do something wonderful for the community, and you won’t have to worry about what to do on New Year’s Eve.

  7. For iceman and everyone else re Kreskin: As a matter of fact, Kreskin called on the ladyfriend at his show. But what he clearly did, as he collected the slips upon which we’d written our thoughts into envelopes that would be “sealed,” was palm the slips. I watched him purposely “fumble” with said slips, which I’m sure never actually went into the envelope. At one point he even seemed to push away with his knuckles my attempt to help him stuff the slips into the envelope.
    So he came up with some “amazing” hits. He even came up with something else the ladyfriend didn’t catch at the moment, even though she’d written it down; she just didn’t recall it at that very second.
    When he pretends to be gathering his own thoughts on that pad with suspiciously raised side panels (you certainly don’t find those in OfficeMax), I’d bet he’s reading the slips of paper he’s palmed.
    He is very, very, VERY good, yes, and very charming, but if one spends some time analyzing his act, you can explain away, oh, say, 50% of it. Which, I must stress, leaves an awful lot more to ponder hopelessly as to where in fact said “there” really is, iceman. Much of his success, too, depends on misdirection, guesswork, great memory skills, some knowledge even of probability theory and what magicians sometimes call “lateral thinking.”
    I’d love to see him again. He’s wonderful. But that he also “read the thoughts” of the guy next to my ladyfriend in the pew indicates he can make mistakes, that he simply fell victim to the luck of the draw on that one only confirmed my own suspicions about the palming by its unlikelihood that two people next to each other would “come through” to him in such immediate succession.
    So there, now you know, the Amazing Kreskin is genuinely quite amazing, if also obviously neither in league with the Devil or in a truly privileged relationship with our Maker.
    And so, by the way, “njholdem,” stick it in your bilious ear.

  8. And as for Richie Havens: during his first set, he talked and talked and talked and made very little sense. It definitely called to mind the phenomenon of “stoned logic.” I think the gist of all his rodomontade (don’t thank me, iceman, this one is a “gimme” here) was that he’s simply glad to still be alive, but I’m not totally sure.
    On the fewer occasions when he burst into song rather than folkie “wisdom,” he sounded fine. As good and as intense as ever. Because of his blathering, however, he ran somewhat over the assigned length of his set, which would have been fine if it’d been because he simply wanted to keep on singing.
    The only other things I can offer critical comments on from New Year’s Eve are Dunkin’ Donuts and the fireworks. Both were great (with a slight edge to Dunkin’s hot chocolate)!!!

  9. rodomontade…”Pretentious boasting or bragging; bluster”…would you call this a synonym of gasconade?

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