Most people who know me personally know that I’m originally from New York, but it’s not because I have an accent, because I don’t.
Well, I DO have an accent of sorts, but it’s tough to suss out that I’m from the NY metro area. Most people think I’m from the Downstate region of New York, like Poughkeepsie or Newburgh. But the fact is, I’m from a small town on the north shore of Long Island called Kings Park. When I was a small child, Kings Park had a huge mental hospital plunked down in its center, and most of the 5000-odd people who lived in that town, worked at the hospital. Nowadays the hospital is closed, the grounds are long-abandoned, and the town population is close to 20,000.
But for all that, Kings Park and its nearby cousin, Smithtown, manage to have a connection to a couple of Christmas songs. Kings Park was the center of a nationwide news story back in 2013 regarding the song “Silent Night”, and as for Smithtown…well, you’ll just have to listen to see what Smithtown has to do with any Christmas song.
If you’ve got a favorite podcatcher, you should have this episode already! If you don’t, and you want to get it from here, just click the media player below:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:35 — 11.0MB)
Hey, you know what would make a great Christmas gift for me? A positive rating and review in whatever software you’re using to download the show. But iTunes still reigns supreme in this respect, so PLEASE go to iTunes dot com (even if you don’t typically use it) and leave me a positive rating.
Old Kings Parker here. Been in WV last 28 year’s. For some reason it keeps stopping.
Hey, Jim: I just ran through it without encountering a problem. Can you give me any other details? Did you download and then listen? Did you listen at the webpage? What browser are you using? Thanks for the heads-up and Merry Christmas!