BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...

Subject: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 05:47 PM

NOw I hope that someone can pick this obit outta toadys Washington Post because this guy's life is so bizarre that it couldn't have been made up...

William Pearlman, 77...
\
This guy, among other wacky things built a raft outta New York garbage and sailed it across the Atlantic Ocean with his family and dogs... And those are just for starters...

Like I said, hope someone can do a blue clicky on this guy...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 05:55 PM

Here ya go:

William Pearlman, 77; happy wanderer known as 'Poppa Neutrino' lived for adventure

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 05:55 PM

Obit in the New York Times...

and from the Boston Herald.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 06:03 PM

Anyone know of this guy before the obit???

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 06:07 PM

There was a movie, and a book, so he caught a few people's attention!

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 06:25 PM

That's what I was thinkin', DD... Man, this guys life would make a good movie...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: gnu
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 07:16 PM

Cool dude! Thanks Bobert and others for the links.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 07:20 PM

See the trailer here. THis is like wow.....

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: EBarnacle
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 07:31 PM

I was one of the crazies who helped launch Son of Town Hall over the side of the breakwater just North of the Morton Street pier in Manhatten. There was some urgency as Town Hall, his earlier barge had been taken away by the Coast Guard to be broken up as unseaworthy.

Poppa Neutrino had to take off on his voyage when he did. It was either that or come ashore. The NY waterfront was going through its version of urban renewal and there was no place for squatters any more. His free mooring location was being taken away at the behest of the Hudson River Park. [These are the same people who designed a riverfront park with no direct access to the water.]

My memories of him are of a kindly person following his own parade. A single drummer would not have been close to adequate for him.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: gnu
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 07:36 PM

EBarnacle... cool!

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 07:46 PM

Come on, EBarn...

You can elaborate a little on the launchin' of Son of Town Hall... The obit says it was made of New York City garbage... What was it really like??? I mean, it had to be more than a couple hundred plastic milk jugs roped together...

More, por favor...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: bobad
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 07:53 PM

Pix and more here: http://www.floatingneutrinos.com/

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 08:08 PM

Taking Son of Town Hall across the Atlantic. Dear gawd....

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 08:12 PM

Thanks, bobad...

I mean, this thing wasn't exactly a few hundred milk cartoons roped together... I mean, it looks like a real boat... Kinda... I mean, they said in the article that it was built of rescued timbers... Hey, that's what boats are built of.... I mean, it looks, ahhhh, somewhat sea worthy... The masts ahd to be affixed to some solid shit below so I'd have to say that this was more than a raft but a boat...

No, E-barn???

I mean, looks like a boat... Rafts don't have much below thwe water line (draft) and looks like this one does???

Am I wrong???

Yo, Amos... Seein' as yer into them odd ball religions whaddayathing about the one that Poppa started???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: EBarnacle
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 10:21 PM

OK, OK! The primary structural members were salvaged from pallets, which in that time and place were mostly sour oak and old railroad ties. A lot of the "waterproofing" was plastic sheeting, as he did not believe in caulking, for the hull anyway. Much of the internal flotation was styrofoam and plastic bottles. The maindeck was more pallet oak which was largely in place to keep the bottles and styrofoam in as well as providing a walking surface.

Son of Town Hall was primarily a raft and the fact that it was able to make it to Europe was as largely a matter of the fact that whatever Divine Being there is looks after fools and sailors.

On launching day, when I arrived, she was set up parallel to the seawall. We attempted to "walk" it to a point of instability so that it would roll off the edge and right itself as it landed in the water. Unfortunately, it did not want to move in that mode. We ended up pivoting it 90 degrees so that we were able to get a little more than half the hull over the water. [We did not have to worry about bottom paint, as there was none.] Finally, it went over into the water, briefly acting like a submarine until it resurfaced and was taken under tow to its mooring.

It's sorta amazing what you can do with levers enough muscles and a bit of ingenuity.

Yes, it had masts and sails, sorta. There were enough sympathetic characters around that they were given discarded sails to recut. They were of really tired material. I don't recall what the spars were made of.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 11:39 PM

"He formed a new political party, the Owl Party, with a three-plank platform: eye contact, courtesy and due process."

It works for me!

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Jan 11 - 09:40 AM

Gotta love the guy...

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Amos
Date: 28 Jan 11 - 11:01 AM

"The road to the mystical is triadic.
To get through the doorway is nomadic."

I dunno, Bobert... Poppa Neutrino is one of those charisma generators you hear about with a big Reality Adjustment Field coming out of their head that sucks everyone in, and you end up talking funny. It's interesting reading his philosophical stuff but you'd have to spend a lot of time studying it up...

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Jan 11 - 05:35 PM

"Reality" sucks, Amos...

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 Jan 11 - 08:45 PM

Spent time with Allen Ginsberg, did he? I hope he got laid. People like that deserve it.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Jan 11 - 09:01 PM

Everyone deserves to get laid... Except assholes, of course...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: EBarnacle
Date: 28 Jan 11 - 10:21 PM

If you spent a lot of time staying over at Ginsberg's your asshole is likely to have gotten laid especially if you were younger than he.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Jan 11 - 10:46 PM

Ouch!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: 'Poppa Neutrino'... A must read...
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 02:12 PM

WOW! He was such a terrific character. I read the book a few years ago and was entranced! He did the things that many of us just daydream about, with panache. I would have loved to have met this crazy, fascinating character.