Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

+        Robert Duvall passed away on February 15 th   His list of acting achievements is nothing short of remarkable from his big  screen debut in 1966 as Boo Radley in to K ill a Mockingbird to nailing Lt Col Kilgore in Apocalypse Now . He also played along side John Travolta as "the kirky "Doc" in Phenomenon , one of my favorites. Although  fans and movie critics alike would say his appearance as Tom Hagan in the Godfather Parts I & II was among his best work, I'm not going to argue.  Duvall rounded out to the already all-star cast and sealed his place in Hollywood history.    Anyone who has been on Twitter knows it's littered with just goofy memes, however every once in awhile pure gold appears on my feed.   While scrolling through  the countless tributes for Duvall I noticed the  above is a scene from T he Godfather. The order that the characters left the table is the order the actors passed away in re...

Once again I have coverted a Facebook post into a blog entry. There have been mixed reactions about President Trump shutting down the Department of Education. My only fear is what will happen to IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). W e will see what  happens   Here I am listening to all the noise about the future education in this country. I've heard parents, from those who fully endorse the public education to ones who home school. I;ve heard from teachers who of course hate the idea to students who have excelled in carter schools. Now you're going to hear from ME, a former student who survived special education, was fully mainstreamed, but lacked to confidence to continue to college. You've heard stories how I had great high school experiences, which I did, but the previous eight years before high school were pure hell. I went to a pub lic school that never recognized I had a brain. My mother fought them tooth and nail for them to provide me basic services...

In honor of Billy Joel's 75th  Birthday I decided top do a Facebook tribit   This will only make sense to a couple of my friends. I don't care. Picture this a scene certain young musical writer from NYC who is riding high on a recent success feels he needs to escape for the weekend. He has never been to the Jersey Shore and decides to take a drive to for the weekend. He arrives at his hotel in Cape May County , checks in for the evening, picks up the local rag and sees a Billy Joel Cover Band is playing in North Wildwood, the writer scoffs but his girlfriend reminds him he was once a struggling writer and he needs to "pay it forward". They go to the bar and he is so blown away by the performance he goes "Back stage" to meet the singer. The writer and the singer hit it off and go to the bar to continue the conversation. After a few drinks and covering all topics possible the singer decides the time is right to get serious and mentions he knows a local wr...

Well like other stuff off my now defunct website, I decided to move my memorial tribute to Derick  Kessel to the blog. Every year I try to do something different, make sure the link to Bob Seger's "Still the Same" is updadted. There's not much more to say after seventeen years. I miss you Derick and feel I'm keeping my promise of never forgetting you. January 7, 2007 Dear Mr. & Mrs. Kessel, You might not recognize the return address on the outside of the envelope, but I knew Derick from Pascack Valley High School. While we weren't the closest of friends, the times we spent together are very special to me. It has been said people come in and out of our lives for a reason. I never quite could put my finger on how he came into my life unexpectedly, but I'm forever grateful he did. Derick was talking to Brian Ghem and some friends when I happened to just walk by and out of the corner of his mouth Derick mentioned something about my wheels , re...

I turned 40 back on March 15 and have been reflecting a lot on my life. One of the treasure I have in life is a wonderful family and great friends. I wrote the piece below as part as the introduction to some writings I did in high school. Stephen Gold and I met in grade school .Even though we were the same age, the school held me back which was really the start of a very bumpy road for me. We separated for awhile and were reunited at Pascack Valley High School Stephen was born with MS. Doctors said he wouldn't see his fifth birthday, he lived triple that amount of time. He was one of the first, if not THE FIRST, children in Bergen County to break the bonds of special education. i don't know the background but even though he lived in River Vale, he went to Dorchester School  in Woodcliff Lake with Darren, another kid with CP, and myself. He graduated Pascack Valley in 1996 and was scheduled to attend Ramapo College that September. Stephen didn't make it, he succumbed  to his...

It took me all day and a lot of distractions before I sat down at the k,eyboard. Kind of like what happened 20 years ago tonight,  the night journal was born.   First a few ground rules, I will only use her initials, even though people know her. I was going to include the original entry, I'm still debating this while I type. This is kind of a double anniversary, it's the night I went out on a dinner date, that wasn't the Junior Prom and it's the night I started writing again after about a two year break. To put March 14,1997 into context easily understood, it was what I called "Senior Year Number 1" because I went to Pascack Valley High School for five years.  SG  entered  into my life two years earlier at the start of my sophmore year (her junior year) in high school, we had an art class together it  took a few weeks but a few things became clear. First was a year ahead of me, art classes had people from different grade levels together.  We struck up a ...

As a writer you would think I'd have some profound words to express my deepest gratitude, I will try to do my best The whole night I had firefighters I've known for 10,15, 20+ years shake my hand including former fire chiefs! People who have laughed with me cried with me, shared a beer or two or three with me. Who have ALWAYS treated me as one of their own ! I also need to mention both Chief Joe Higgins and Honorary Chief George J. Fusco, both of whom I know are sitting up  there looking down and just smiling! To be made an Honorary Member of the Woodcliff Lake Fire Department by a fire chief who I went to school with as well as one of the most recognizable firefighting names in the Pascack Valley area is something I will ALWAYS treasure. I again want to thank Chief George Lucia Jr. and ALL the members of the Woodcliff Lake Fire Department for this incredible honor. I am PROUD to call all of you brothers! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART P.S. To answer a personal question...

Alright followers of this blog must be doing a double take because about a year ago I wrote about the 1997 Class reunion. Well a little background. If you read the June 24 th you'll figure out I did high school in five years instead of four. Well both the Class of 97 and the Class of 98 made me one of their own so I went to two junior and two senior proms, going to two ten year reunions seemed like the natural progression. Besides Jeff has been wanting me to reunite with an old buddy Mike Miller, another PV alumni, and I didn' t want to disappoint him. I also worked hard those fives years to make friends and I wanted to see how everyone was doing Ironically it was in the same place as last year so that was a bit of a downer. Last year I got a ride this year I had to rely on Mom and Dad's Taxi (a downer in itself.) Even though I would never convince anyone I got there 45 minutes before the event started just so nobody would notice they dropped me off. OK I screwed up the ...

Today marks the tenth anniversary of my high school graduation......and the "unofficial end" of the Journal. I had always thought the 1998 Pascack Valley High School graduation ceremony would be the last entry but t he different big events happened, and I had to write about them. Then I started this blog which is a bit more of a relaxed format. Now I could go into the different friendshipsI had and still have o-r write about the events that made my high school year memorable, but that's in the Journal and in my autobiography. Instead I wanted t o highlight my thoughts of THAT DAY , kind of a reflection piece so here is the one journal you'll ever see on Mattes's Madness . If there any 1998 PV alumni reading this entry, PLEASE COMMENT June 26,1998 For the first time in along time I feel the urge to write! This has been a crazy couple of days that I won't soon forget. First of all, I finally got out of high school for good,that's a big accomplishment. One...

Alright I couldn't get away just posting some pictures like I did with the Bell and Siren Dedication, I actually have to "work". Maybe then my former classmates won't think I'm some kind of bum lying around the house all day. It's true the Pascack Valley Class of 1997 had their reunion this past Saturday night. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go originally because I HAD graduated in 1998 (I was on the five year plan), but the class president twisted my arm! Well it was a good thing he did because I had a great time. Not only did I remember my dancing steps, I was great with names as well Once again I was "one of the gang" and it felt like old times. Mom reminded to stay away from bring up Derick, a fellow classmate who had passed away in January, but you could definitely tell he was there in spirit. They mentioned him along with one of our former classmmates serving in Iraq. I was surprised to see our former class advisor, Ms Kosch there and Mr. M...

Being it's the Monday after Thanksgiving I should label this as such, but I am not renaming "Part I". Alright the traditional Wenesday night barfest continues, with a twist this year. People that think New Year's Eve is a big drinking holiday don't go out the night before Thanksgiving. Knowing you have four full days to mend your wounds from a very late evening helps too. In a way it's even better than Christmas Eve, only different is you arenn't looking forward to the next morning.It came into question a mulititude of times if I could survive the walking. Although thee timing and the amount of drinking, was perfet! The bars up in Pearl River NY held something called a bar crawl consisting of a number of bars all within walking distance, yes even by my standards. It's something my brother wanted to do last year, but wound up staying in one bar. Alright the night began with an opening round at Felix's House. Ok all Thanksgivings open with drinks a...

Ever since I was little I could always remember I like Christams better than Thanksgiving (what kid doesn 't?). Alright that still maybe true but I can say with a straight face I like the week that leads upto Thanksgiving better thaN the week leading upto- Christmas. Maybe it's because Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, no matter what the DATE it falls on. One of the very few highlights of going to school here was that the week before Thanksgiving was always half days, it still remains the same today, Monday and Tuesday are parent-teacher conferences and they make Wenesday a half day jut because it's the day before Thanksgiving. The night before has become just as important, it started in high school when we had the tradition Pascack Valley bon fire. Ok I only made it the t h e last two of my five year at PV, but they both were what I would consider two of the higlights of going to high school. Now that we're older my other brother Peter and I go out to the bars...