What happens when a Financial Advisor at retirement age decides to leave the rat race to seek new meaning in life? Joe Scrocca hangs up his pinstripes and embarks on a career as a standup comic! With no comedy experience to speak of, he starts out with a stint at a Biker Bar then finds himself sharing the stage with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld at the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan. Joe shows us what guts and determination looks like. Joe's journey following his star is as inspirational as it is unconventional. 

A self-starting high school student embarks on a career as a restauranteur beginning as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant. Listen to Jay's story as he describes chasing his dream through assorted challenges including Hurricane Sandy and a pandemic named COVID. He found a former restaurant on Ocean City NJ's noted Asbury Ave, purchased it, reinvented it and the rest is history. Listen to this remarkable story of resilience in action.

Chapter 3, takes us through Helen's teen years as she learns to cope with her powerful  extra sensory abilities. She didn't apply for her "gift," in fact she sometimes regarded her enhanced sensorium as a curse. Her birth provided the "on" switch and there was no off button. Purely the luck of the draw. We are all born with qualities and abilities we did not apply for. We just had to make the best of it. Let's see how this young woman she makes this work. Consider what you would do if you experienced the world as does Helen? Easier said than done. Listen and let us know what you think. Connect with us at talesfrom2ndstreet.com.  Enjoy the cast. DS.

Helen Moloney was endowed with a condition known as "accelerated empathy." She grew to understand how her special empathy worked and how she fit within her strange condition. Listen to part 2 in the story of the evolution of this remarkable young woman.   

Helen is a true, honest to goodness Seer. She has been called a Fortune Teller but she refutes that notion.  Helen is an Accelerated Empath where her gift provides her the ability to feel at an unusually intense level. We are presenting her story in a weekly, serialized format and hope to provide you a unique and formidable young woman.

In late 2024, drones were plaguing the East coast of the United States. This phenomenon was casting a sparkling shawl over the state of New Jersey. Explanations for the explosion of night fliers ranged from hobbyists to Space Aliens, with the most extreme from a Federal legislator who  announced that a nefarious Iranian "mother ship" was off the coast serving as their launching and retrieval site. In any event we are now a couple of months down the road and no plausible explanation has been offered. In the absence of reason and logic, people tend to make things up and the made up explanations are mostly frightening. Here is a poem written and narrated by a Scotsman visiting the states who is mostly afraid. 

This is a true story and as we often find,  truth can be stranger than fiction. I am  an Irish Jew and was raised as a Roman Catholic. Growing up, there were interesting trends that emerged periodically. Sometimes there was pronounced prejudice aimed towards the Irish, at other times Eastern Europeans, hatred of the Catholics and Blacks was always big, and  then, as Phil Ochs sang in National Brotherhood Week, "...everybody hates the Jews."  Since I was a mongrel, roots, such as mine, could put you in a bind...like who can you freely hate and mock? When I was young, I had to be careful or I could have ended up sending hate mail to myself or burning a cross in front of our own shanty. Nothing's easy.
In many parts of the world, including here in the good old USA, hostility towards difference is on the rise. Some seem to be enjoying the freedom to scorn "the other" while accepting elements of Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism as  reasonable, decisive approaches to governance.  Some even consider test driving  those historically failed and patently evil courses. I thought it might be fun to open a few of those doors and see what flies out.  So, buckle up, put on your flak jackets and enjoy.

Frank Allen, aka Boy of the Beach, safely returned from his service in Korea to rejoin his life in Ocean City. Listen as Frank  shares his experiences with us as he readjusts to civilian life.  

The late 60's and early 70's were in Aquarius. Change was in the air. What was usual and  accepted as the norm, was under scrutiny. We were in for a crash course in riding without training wheels. The  Age of Aquarius...what a ride!

A night out, a bolt from the blue.... what more could you ask for? More Natty and Joey in Chapter 4 of Natty and the Electricians. We are calling this episode: "Flying Saucers and Fish Sticks."
Enjoy.