Archive for the ‘friends’ Category

from the shores of iwo Jima….Entry for March 19, 2009

Friday, May 15th, 2009

On the side of the (cliff) couch
Jim McSherry and i played little army
the green plastic kind frozen
expressions loaded
macHINe gUns
tanks not to scale

we played with our vivid imagination
in the tv newsglow of the vietnam news
103 dead will be shipped home this week a jump from 72
just last week
InspiRed by the army movies his DaD sat down to watch
the rabbit ears covered in tinfoil
constantly moved to get better reception
so hard to get them to stand up
on the carpet battlefield
the music from the MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE
always made me cry

neondusk319091031pm

Without a Net………..Entry for September 3, 2008

Sunday, May 10th, 2009


It was thirty years ago today. I went to my first Dead concert at almost brand new Giants stadium. It was a very long strange trip for sure. It went on for a long time with my brothers. Traveling to allot of different places. Meeting so many people. The art was always so fresh and it covered the parking lots, shirts, faces and stage. Camping, tripping, getting busted, fights, getting lost, getting high….I always liked the small theaters, Stanley in Pittsburg, the Capital in Jersey and I was blesssed to see them at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. After they became a money making machine, Brent the keyboard player overdosed, they played in big stadiums to crowds that half-cared about the vibes and music. Americas greatest secret vacation had become a “cool trend” Will the rain stop in Florida? Everytime I talk to Grant the amount increases ten fold. In our last phone conversation it was 75 inches of rain that has fallen on Florida. Florida Hartmans-get in your boat and float up here and have some tomato sandwiches with me. I picked fifty on my birthday. And we only have 5 plants.

Dad if you ONLY KNEW. The will of God took you away and I wonder what y’all are doing up there. Brenda, Beverly and Carol probably laughing their asses off, telling stories. Dad you were a fucking idiot. The more I read your endless pages of bullshit in your journals. Never once did you mention any of your children by name. Your life was money. Numbers, the Sewing Center and saving your soul. Nobody remembers you. You never gave us the chance because business came first. Some of us remember getting the shit kicked out of us, I gotta give you that much. Mysterious dark figure. In the Summer I remember the smell of gasoline, fresh-cut grass and you….aqua-velva and cigars.

THE END of Summer. Always so quick. In this red tomato sky, my boys are huge. Taller than me and sometimes smarter than me. Walking on the boardwalk, trying to find that “last hurray” the final salute to a season lost. Another lost sibling. If I am just a ballon head in the photos—you are all gathered around her funeral….holding hands in a dream. Heads bowed down in prayer. But the surviving eight peeking up. Looking around at each other. Wondering who will be next. How many balloons will we need. I can still put my feet in the sand. The kids are going to school. Football season. Catch maybe one more huge wave from the churning sea. The seemingly endless pounding waves (bigger because of the hurricanes down yonder.) I miss my boys being little. I miss Brenda and the red tomato skys of Summer.

My opening day…………Entry for October 8, 2007

Friday, May 8th, 2009


This is one of the last things left of Dads. These damn tickets. In 1972 I started going to Giant games at the ripe old age of 12. Thirty-five years later….I am still sitting in the same seats (well, 30 years at Giants stadium, 3 at Yale bowl and one at Yankee stadium) Approximatly 330 home games later I sit here with my 15 year old son. It is alot of heritage, history and memories. Some of the people that have gone to games with me, Mr Moran, Ed Deloreto, Frank and John Karst. beverly. barbara gary grant brenda, Gene Kaufman, John Morgan, Susan, Dan Braza, Erin, Mr Blackford, Chris Espeland, Marielle, Mom, Don Bok, Erin, Glenn Jr, Jo Ann, Buc Bahlman, and Roy Henderson to name a few.
I HAVE BEEN SITTING next to the alot of the same people for 30 years. They remember when I had a poney tail and beard and drank and flipped out over missed first downs.
On this particular beautiful sunny day they played the “other” NY team and won. Josh and I got to the parking lot at 9am and finally left around 9:30 pm. We had the grill going all day: pork roll, hotdogs, clams with garlic and drawn butter, hot wings, shrimp, steak and potatoe salad (made the way mom made it) As the sun went down and we began to launch fireworks into the orange sky….I realized how many hours of my life I have spent in this damn parking lot….between the Giants and the Grateful Dead…I have met so many people…and I am passing this heritage onward…in the glow of our little fire…..says Josh….”this is cool dad.”…..yeah this is cool.

Please pray for……Entry for August 31, 2007

Friday, May 8th, 2009


An old friend of the family is not doing well. Please pray for him. Thank you.

June 11, 1962…..Greg-Ken-Butch…….entry for March 15, 2007

Friday, May 8th, 2009

George,

You’ve done a remarkable job on your family webpage. Generations of Hartmans (and lord knows your family has done its best to populate the planet) will thank you for preserving the history of the lineage. I’ve really enjoyed browsing your site and catching up on one of my all time favorite families. Quite frankly, I think I’d only recognize three people at this point: (i) Barb, she just has not changed, (ii) Belinda, although I only knew her as an infant, she looks exactly like her father did the last time I saw him, and (iii) Glenn Jr, although I never met him, he has the exact same mischievous glint in his eyes that his father had when we were kids.

I apologize for not having written sooner. Although I’ve enjoyed your site, I was also greatly saddened by the items I read about Glenn. I tried writing sooner, but really could not find the appropriate words. For a few years back when, Glenn was one of my closest friends. I remember him as a very hard worker at Goldblats, and a great guy to kick back with after work. We spent many nights together working our butts off until the wee hours of the night, only to start work up again at the crack of dawn.

I’m so glad Glenn is out of Prison. I hope he returns to the Glenn I knew before his addiction. Please give him my best, and let him know I sincerely care about him.

Keep up the great work on this site George. I am truly happy for you as well. I don’t think I can remember ever seeing you smile like you do in those pictures with your kids.

Your friend for life,

Ken

Some friends are more. There were many that became part of us and we became part of them. In many ways Ken is even more than my friend for life, he was our sixth brother. In a world full of racism, prejudice and hate….we grew up on Whitman street and did everything together. We shared like the brothers we were. We played football, baseball, rode our bikes, swam, chased butterflies….everything. Once we took all our toys and put them in a red wagon and walked down the street with them. Rebels we were, when we threw every single toy down the sewer. I remember Mom and Mrs Gitter climbing down to get them all out. Another time we climbed into the empty drawers of a tall chest and when I climbed on the top the whole chest fell over leaving everyone screaming and trapped inside. On the FT site there are the “Twigs” and I just cannot find it in my heart to categorize my brother as a twig. He is so much more than that……..to all of us.