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Home » Columnists

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The General Slocum

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Jul 18

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The Hyannis home’s basement contained brass wheels, binnacles, brass lanterns with green and red glass, barometers, binoculars, a brass diving hard hat, various frayed charts of Vineyard Sound, Cape Cod, and Nantucket shoals, postcards of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard steamships, compasses of...
Grounded, redux

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Jul 11

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Only two sailors in my experience never ran aground. One never left port and the other was an atrocious liar.” — Don Bamford Running aground on any type of boat can be a humbling experience, and such an experience does, indeed, leave one grounded — complete ego deflation —...
Tempus fugit

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Jun 27

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

While rowing out to my sailboat a few weeks ago, I passed a 70-foot sailing yacht named tempus fugit — time flies in Latin. Leave it to the Romans to figure out such a precise phrase like that to give the good citizens of Rome something to think about while they were paying their taxes and...
Sailing season is on!

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Jun 13

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Last October, I wrote a column about sailing and mentioned that my boat, Reverie, needed a new headsail — jib — because I wore the other one out from several years of constant use. The sail was patched, sail taped, careworn, and frayed; however, it had served Reverie well. I had...
In good hands with Jennifer Egan

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Jun 6

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

One of the greatest things about reading a good book is that we are able to learn something as we flip through the pages. A fringe benefit of reading is that we don’t need to travel, because good writing is like traveling. Whether we are reading fiction or non-fiction—if we get the sense that we...
Rule of thumb for the summer: situational awareness

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, May 30

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The phone rang and a voice with a southern drawl said, “Hey, Joe, how’re you doin?” “Good, long time no hear Captain, how are you and yours? You still flying the big wagons?” I asked. “Yup, but I’ll tell ya, last week I crashed my Stinson Gullwing in New Mexico, some guy hit me while I was on final...
Class of 1969

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, May 2

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” — Samuel Beckett In 1969 I graduated from Saint Raphael Academy in my hometown of Pawtucket, Rhode Island — I was last in my class. The road to this ranking was rife with academic failure; school was not something I...
Stoked

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Apr 11

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The guy was swimming toward the rocky shore of the Point Judith Lighthouse as the whitewater pounded and rumbled him forward. The swell was pumping well over head and there were 40 surfers out jockeying for position in the crowded lineup. This swell popped up very quickly and the word spread fast...
A saloon musician gets his due

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Apr 4

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

”Bear down on that guitar, Houlihan,” said Jon Campbell from the stage as we were performing a benefit on Block Island for the moving of the Southeast Lighthouse. My response was a sneer at my music mate as I bashed down a solid G chord on my Guild guitar. That’s how Campbell rolled when we played...
Wind and Words

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Mar 21

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

For several years I had a monthly ritual that involved reading a particular character’s stuff in Soundings magazine. It was written by the late Jack Sherwood, who had a column called “Bay Tripper.” I found interesting stories by a guy who loved sailing on the Chesapeake in a beautifully maintained...
Bridging two glimmering cities

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Feb 28

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Judy, we’re kind of close to this guy,” said Pat Hackett from the backseat of a black boxy Mercedes Benz as it swerved ahead into the right lane after zipping past the Metro bus. “It’s okay, Pat, I see him. Joe, you’re a writer. Look! The Village Voice ,” said Judy, as she deftly wove the...
You know you’re a geezer...

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Feb 21

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

You know you’re a geezer when you realize that the benchmarks and milestones that make it clear you’re going at a different speed happen more frequently. For example, I heard of a guy who had his kids at age 60. One day he was asking where the diapers were in the supermarket and the clerk directed...
Old school nods

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Feb 7

Category:

News, Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

One morning after parking his car at the ferry landing, Chris Walken stopped over at the shack to talk with Capt. Matty Rooney and me. After some standard greetings and salutations, Matty suggested we get a picture of us with Chris. Note well in the background of the shot there is something that...
A coastal dweller

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Jan 31

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

In 1957 our dad took us all to Galilee — The Point — in his two-tone green ’55 Plymouth sedan to walk along the bulkheads and docks. I clearly remember walking by a gallows frame where some giant tuna hung, where they were being weighed — before they were gutted and headed. The frame was right...
Bruce Springsteen’s Odyssean quest

By

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Jan 10

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Bruce Springsteen, like Odysseus, is a man of twists and turns trying to get home — both finally did get home; Odysseus got home to the island of Ithaca, and Bruce got home to Freehold, New Jersey, and to Penelope and Patti. In the bardic tradition of Homer, Springsteen is a hell of a story teller...
Sometime in New York City

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Jan 3

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Last November I decided to go to New York City to learn about a place called Gramercy Park and meet some New Yorkers. Reading New York City history is one of my favorite past times; authors Russell Shorto, Pete Hamill, E.B. White and Luc Sante have told me The Big Apple story. Beginning with the...
Let us entertain you

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Dec 27

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Online retailers have fairly recently jumped into the creative arena, producing original content that is disrupting the old distribution models for television shows and movies. My wife and I finally hopped aboard to see what all the fuss was about and I’m glad we did. The first show we dialed up on...
The giving and receiving season

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Dec 20

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

I was alone in the elevator of the Prudential Tower in Boston as it was going up to the observation deck like a bat out of hell; after absconding with the pen and stationery from the lobby for my mission at the top of the building. It had a been wild night in ‘68. I had gotten lost near Roxbury and...
Dog Star

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Nov 29

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Some folks don’t like the cold winters of the Northeast, that’s why these reasonable people of means go to warmer climates and dodge the snow, ice, heating bills, dead batteries, slick roads, black ice, broken snow shovels, snow blowers, power outages, sore backs, bread and milk shortages, cabin...
Back to basics

By

J. V. Houlihan Jr.

Tue, Nov 20

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

We currently live in a land of great wealth. There is an abundance of things to buy, collect, discard, and buy again — and again. For example, high end clothing trends get tuned up in the couture houses of Paris, then get marketed by having perfectly cheek-boned models strut down a runway while...
Lighthouse Keepers

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Nov 15

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

On Nov. 15 at 9 p.m. WGBH premiered — see more showing dates and times below — a documentary titled “Keepers of the Light.” It deals with the moving of the Gay Head Lighthouse on the western tip of Martha’s Vineyard. Moreover, the film shows a couple of similarities that were involved with the...
Robert G. Goode, Jr., poet

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Oct 25

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

While in a Jamestown sandwich shop a few weeks ago, I had the good fortune to see a former student named Robert Goode, who is a Jamestown resident. He came into the shop with his backpack filled with books and writing journals and sat across from me as I waited for my sandwich. We did the standard...
Tom McGuane, writer

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Oct 18

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

I started reading Tom McGuane’s books just a few years ago after a friend suggested a couple of titles. I liked his stuff right from the jump. McGuane works his readers hard; attention must constantly be paid to where his characters are going and what they are doing—or not doing. His characters are...
Sailing a boat

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Oct 11

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The first time I attempted rigging out a sailboat was in 1959. It was at my uncle’s summer house on Greenwich Bay. My sister Janie, myself and a random beach kid — in July heat and slack wind — got the sail up the mast on a sailing dinghy called What, Me Worry? My sister was the brains of...
The Osprey

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Thu, Oct 4

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“How come that windmill next to George’s fell down and those Osprey nests, don’t,” asked local fishing Captain Ralph Pearson one winter morning in a local coffee shop. Ospreys, also known as fish hawks, are clever hunters and great engineers — they’re persistent and forthright, too. Captain Ralph’s...
Rowing a boat

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Thu, Sep 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

As a young kid around age 10, the most transformative experience — besides riding a bicycle — I ever had was when I rented a rowboat on a small pond on Cape Cod. While on a camping trip, I noticed a beat-up rowboat to hire for short money — 50 cents an hour. I flipped a guy four quarters and hopped...
Print media in the digital age

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Aug 24

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

While taking a Mass Media course in graduate school, we had a professor who had a mesmerizing voice and an easy manner — a Mister Rogers for adults. He had a soothing tonality that could send us into a relaxing alpha state or a deep sleep; however, his class was so interesting that we were all...
Work, work, work

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Aug 3

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“All you have to sell is your time.” My dad told me this when I was a kid. He also told me, “There isn’t a money tree in the back yard.” It was easy to connect the dots with what he was saying; if I wanted something, I’d need to work for it. I was a caddy — a looper — when I was 14. It was a short-...
The Galilee Free Library

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Jul 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Couples need a good base camp to live in as they age; if they are not vigilant their camp can get cluttered up with stuff that they just don’t need anymore. We live in a consumerist society; we need to buy lots of stuff to keep the wheels of the economy turning. However, there comes a time when we...
Hope Roosa, motivated

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Jul 13

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Motivation comes from within. It cannot be taught. There are no short cuts. What’s compelling about motivation is where it begins — there must be a spark — and where it can take you. When I meet motivated people, I look for the spark and invariably it is clearly explained by the...
‘Melville in love’

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Jun 8

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Sometimes a great book will find us when we least expect it. A book can appear to us in bookstores, flea markets, lost and found bins, yard sales, and libraries. Or, a friend may flip us a book that they may think we might like when we least expect it. A friend of ours named Cindy — another Cindy...
Down to the second

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, May 18

Category:

News, Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

As the Oldport launch was heading over to Fort Adams at 0800, we passed very close to the Volvo Open 65, Dongfeng Racing. In very poor visibility and light air she was the fourth boat in the fleet to finish in the Newport leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. The word around the Newport docks was...
The Block Island Factor

By

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, May 4

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“The Block Island Factor is a degree-of-difficulty figure by which one multiplies mainland estimates to achieve Block Island realities. The Factor is always greater than one and may go as high as five depending on one’s ability to adapt to weather, cost, transportation, and...
The Chief

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Apr 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Hey, Joe, check out my new guitar,” said Chief Vin Carlone as he came into the car shack one February day a few years back. It was freezing outside and it was quiet at the docks. He cracked open his case and pulled out a pristine out-of-the-box Taylor guitar. Then he ran some scales up and down...
The stages of Geezer-hood

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Apr 6

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

I just finished my 68th trip around the sun, and I’m barreling on the quick step toward the next one. There is no denying that life goes by very fast as we get on in years—it’s non-negotiable. Moreover, we pay more attention as to how we want to spend our time — we can’t flinch — so we need to go...
Remembering a mentor and friend

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Mar 23

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Get on that house, Houlihan, you missed a spot under the gutter.” “That grass isn’t raked enough. Keep at it.” “Tune your guitar, that E string is flat.” “Did you do your geometry? Did you study your French verbs?” The above and many more assertive suggestions were said to me by my childhood next-...
Winter

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Mar 16

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

We’ve had some cold and inclement — ice, snow, wind, slush — weather this winter. However, other than the “Bomb Cyclone,” it’s been an uneventful season. On the day I write this, it’s a balmy 48 degrees aboard my sailboat in Newport Harbor. There is no snow to be seen of any consequence, and the...
Sometimes, life is a beach

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Mar 9

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

I first heard of Jimmy Buffett in the winter of 1975 while living on Daytona Beach, Florida, in my shanty Irish camper, and raising standard issue hell on said beach and in the local saloons. Buffett’s name would pop up with some of the — ahem, characters — I played my guitar with at...
A new Rockwell classic

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Mar 2

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” — W. Somerset Maugham The above quote could also pertain to writing a screenplay. Irish/British writer Martin McDonagh penned a script that became the movie, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri...
Charting your own course

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Feb 2

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“I frisked him; he’s clean,” says a guy eating a plate of food with authority and certainty. “I’ve frisked a thousand young punks.” A guy gets up from the table where there are three men sitting, and heads to the men’s room. The camera tracks back — twice — to the guy who frisked him. The guy keeps...
Bomb cyclone — help!

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Jan 12

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Any young dogs want to shovel old man Houlihan’s cars out and make some scoots? A blown shoulder just shut me down, and Cindy’s bull goring injury has slowed her down a little. Otherwise, we’d be on this… If interested, PM me, stat! I posted this note on Facebook on Jan. 3 and got a few...
Words

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Dec 29

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

I got wind of a blow. While writing some fiction one day the aforementioned pun came out of my head, through my fingers, and onto the page. The context was just two guys discussing a nasty weather system coming up the East Coast. These six words flew out of my head and blew me...
The gifting season

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Dec 22

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Here we are again at that most wonderful time of the year — Christmas! Yup, everyone is gearing up to go out and buy gifts for kids, wives, husbands, grandkids, friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends. It’s a time when UPS and FedEx packages come flying off trucks in prodigious numbers at the...
All for the life of the rolling sea

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Dec 8

Category:

Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

A sleek and fast looking 70-foot motor yacht backed out of her slip on a sunny Sunday, in Newport Harbor. It was 3 July, 2008. As the sexy and shiny rig was making her way into the busy fairway, a loud, thumping Latin rhythm could be heard — booming. Aboard, there was a bevy of bikini-clad beauties...
Book nods for Christmas

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Dec 1

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

One of life’s simple pleasures is reading The New York Times Book Review. I always feel a little more informed about things after I read a review — even though I may pass on the book — these reviews are thorough and expansive. There are so many good books out there, it’s sometimes hard to...
Travails in India

By

J.V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Nov 17

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

The iPhone went off at midnight, and there was a text. “Cindy had a pretty serious mishap the other day. She got near a bull, and he gored her. She had to go to the hospital. She is OK. No internal injuries, but she has a serious gash across her abdomen.” This note was sent by my wife’s...
Tales of The Dutch Inn

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Oct 27

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Last summer a guy rolls in to the standby lot to try to get on the ferry. I forgot his real name — but he looked like a Wally. He was a pleasant guy, and he got me a Diet Coke from the Portside where he went with his friends to burn up the clock and have lunch. Wally was a thoughtful guy — it was...
Bashing to windward

By

J.V. Houlihan Jr.

Fri, Oct 13

Category:

News, Columnists, The Ferry Dock Scribbler

There was an article in Forbes magazine in 2012 that got my attention. It was a piece that dealt with the newly-released album titled “Wrecking Ball,” by Bruce Springsteen. It was an angry album, and some folks thought Springsteen was being a hypocrite for making this record. How could a guy write...
Can Do Sailors

By

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Fri, Sep 22

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

“Yes, we ran like a scared chicken. After seeing Irma make her forecasted turn to the north up the east coast of Florida, we turned to the east, and chased her—like any badass sailor would—until she was safely clear of the Florida straits.” —Captain Lisa Chaplin-Dixon, Master of the M...
Ducks redux

By

J. V. Houlihan, Jr.

Sun, Sep 17

Category:

The Ferry Dock Scribbler

Over the past few years, the phrase “dust ducky,” comes flying out of my mouth when asked how I’m doing. It’s a corny way of saying that things are just fine. In the realm of the geezer, the idea of saying corny stuff is okay — it’s okey-doke — and the reason it’s okay to say a corny phrase when we...

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