A Man of Many Dreams: An Autobiography in Poetry

By Anthony Cardelli

In this memoir and collection of original verses, longtime barber, singer, and son of Trenton, New Jersey recalls a life filled with adventure, dreams, and love.

Anthony Cardelli is a man of many dreams, and he shares them all in this book of poetry and memoirs written over four decades. He explores his passion for life; love for music; and memories of being a husband, father, grandfather and soldier.

He also recalls growing up during the Great Depression with fellow Italians in the Chambersburg section of Trenton. He was already working at the age of six, and he opened up a barber shop before becoming a soldier in the US Army and serving in the Korean War. Through it all, his dreams and ambitions were filled with musicparticularly that of Frank Sinatra. Throughout his life he became a popular area singer, drawing inspiration and energy from lifes melodies.

Join Cardelli as he recounts his most challenging times and triumphs in this deeply emotional and profound look at life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781469798233

Anthony Cardelli

Antonio Cardelli, a native of the Chambersburg section of Trenton, New Jersey, is the son of Italian immigrants. When he was sixteen he got his first full-time job as a barber in downtown Trenton; at seventeen years old he opened his own barber shop before serving in the US army during the Korean War. Later, during the 1970’s, he and his wife, Anna, opened up one of the areas first unisex hair salon. He retired from a career as an employee of the State of New Jersey and currently sings locally.

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Copyright © 2014, 2015 By Anthony Cardelli & Catherine Ann Cardelli Ciccia.

Cover photo of the bridge taken by photographer

Rob Melone

Graphics, design and editing by

Catherine Ann Cardelli Ciccia

Never seen before photos of Frank Sinatra

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4697-9822-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-9824-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-9823-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012909317

iUniverse rev. date: 01/12/2015

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

MEMOIRS

The Way I Saw It around Old Blue Eyes

Tonsorial Artistry

HOP’S BARBER SHOP

A Beautiful Time

Trenton Makes, The World Takes

It’s Not Over: A Memory from My Neighborhood

A Realization

The Gentle Giant My Uncle Joe Santarsiero An American Hero

He Can Make a Grown Man Cry: A Memory of Frank Sinatra

A Theory

TT

500 CLUB, Atlantic City, NJ

ANTHONY MARTELLONI AN AMERICAN HERO

THE SUMMER OF 98’

To My Friends at Caesars Forum Lounge, Atlantic City, New Jersey 2004

House Arrest

MY ANNA

My Grandson Anthony His Day in the Sun

Time Without a Length

Only Time Will Tell

Dear Anthony and Jillian

Living My Dream

Music To My Ears

Someone Once Said

My Love to Sing

MY MUSIC

My Music

A Song I’d Like to Sing

It Sure Feels Good

Under the Big Top

Same Old Song

I’m Not Ready

A TRIBUTE TO SINATRA AND HIS MUSIC

Although We Never Met

The Paramount

Bobby Socks

The Pied Piper’s Serenade

A Rock-a-Dolly

Since One Million BC

Big Red Apple

Old Blue Eyes

Songs to Sing

Silent Beauty

My Swan Song

Old Blue Eyes Is Back

The Chairman of the Board

The Kid from Hoboken

To a Man I Never Met

MY DREAMS

My Dreams

A Fisherman’s Dream

The Legend Lives On

Dreamers

I Don’t Dream Like that Anymore

I Used to Dream

Night Nurse

Are You Just a Dream?

Now Is the Time

The Song from Our Dream

Let Me into Your Dream

My Favorite Dream

MY NEIGHBORHOOD

My Neighborhood

Where I Was Born

Two Silhouettes

Trenton 1939

The Midwife

My Song

The Twenties

Cabaret Show at the Kent Athletic Association Club 1960’s

Characters From My Neighborhood

Diamond Jim

A Warning to the Friday Night Out Boys: The Battle of Who’s Wearing the Pants

Richard Gizzi

Trenton Makes, the World Takes

Latitude Sailing Off the Jersey Shore

Diamonds in the Sand

From the Highlands Down to Ole Cape May

Go Fly a Kite

MY FATHER

He Built With His Hands

A Better Man Than Me

The Pope

My Old Man

MY SISTER

My Sister Went Away

Out of Place

Connie: My Sister Is on My Mind

MY LOVE AND ROMANCE

My Wife

In a Special Place

My Anna

My Pearl

She’s a Diamond in the Rough

The Cosmos

The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars

Until

Alive

Is Yours, Is Mine

From the Day We Vowed

2⁵th Anniversary

Our Faith in Thee

Locked in My Heart

Beauty Is a Joy Forever

A Second Chance

The Moment

All My Defenses

A Winner Every Time

I Can’t Get Next to Where You Are

In Your Eyes

An Old Cliché

Blind Date

A Sight for Sore Eyes

Burning Up

Don’t Bother to Knock

Confession

The Only Way to Go

Even If

Her Kind of Love

First Play

Forever Yours

Forgiving You

Here’s a Penny for Your Thoughts

How Do I Love Thee

Lady Luck

Let’s Make a Pitch

Ignorance Is Bliss

I’ll Never Be Old Enough

The Woman in My Life

The Cross We Bear

Imagination

Our Music

In the Battle for Love

Right One for Me

The Only Way to Score

Love Is a no Score

Games

A Good Time

Table for Two

It’s Not Easy

Just a One-Night Stand

Just as I Predicted

Just Like You Want

I Once Was Blind

Your Heart

Nothing

Our Gemini Hearts

Only for Your Eyes

The Two of Us

It Was Always Anna

It’s Great to Be Alive

Gift of Time

LOST LOVE

Vows

A Home to Leave Behind

A House Full of Love

To Love, to Honor, & Obey

All My Soul, My Heart

Behind the Smile

Some Other Bird

A Perfect Heart

Broken Heart

In the Darkroom of my Mind

Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Is there such a place)

Four Seasons of Our Love

From Now On

Heart for Rent

I’m Running a Sale Today

All My Eggs

Never Falls on Me

On the Wings of a Dove

Time to Decide

A Long Time in Between Drinks

You Don’t Have to Tell Me

I’ll Forgive You

I Vowed

In Clear View

It Wouldn’t Be Easy

Who Knows Better Than I

With Just One Word

Mood Indigo

Recapture the Rapture

You Don’t Have to Tell Me

Sitting in a Bar

Collective Memories

Talking to Myself

The Love I Left Behind

The Memories of You

Two People

They Just Won’t Go Away

Nice Guys Finish First

This Rainy Day

Time, the Tattletale

Traveling on a Metro Liner

Waiting for the Tide

Well Wishes of the Past

When I Lost Your Love

Where the Sun Never Shines

Whirlpool of Sadness

The Lost Love I Found

Sixth Sense

What Are You Looking At?

Without You

You Can Make It Happen

Me Without You

My Greatest Discovery

LETTERS TO ANNA

My Heart

Knowing Me

Just Before Sunrise

Being In This World with Me

MY DAUGHTER

I Met a Girl

She

Not Just Another Pretty Face

Class of the Fields

Elegance

I Was There When It Happened

Happy Tears

The Daughter of My People: Our Family Tree

Just Once in My Life

From the Womb

MY GRANDCHILDREN

A Beautiful Story to Be Told: My Family Tree

Bursting with Pride: May 12, 1977

Wrapped in a Rainbow Towel

Beautiful in More Ways Than One

My Grandson

The Power of Beauty

Not for a Million

The Twelfth of May

A. J.

Chip Off the Old Block

What’s ’At

I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes

Raising a Boy

Elizabeth Ann: June 16, 1978 My Pair of Queens

Each Child Is Unique

My Grandson, My Granddaughter

Emotions

The Charm of a Newborn

More Beauty to Come

She Arrived: April 29, 1980 DeAnna Catherine

DeAnna

Grandchildren

Names

Carry On

Offsprings: The Beauty They Carry

A Note to My Grandson

Blow Your Own Smoke

Doctor Marin

For Elizabeth

Once Again

MY FAMILY

Once in My Life

No Place Like Home

Long Way from Home

The Room that Warmed Your Soul

My Heart Skips a Beat

My Unlocked Heart

Feelings of Love

Love

Priceless

Love Given to Me

My Eyes

Pleasure of Your Company

My Time with You

Without Limits

Shallow Eyes

Since You Came

The Beginning of a Symphony

The Frameless Portrait

To the Infinitive

Triple Crown

When You Smile

We Had It All

Up Until Now

Where My Heart Is

MY GREAT GRANDCHILDREN

SEASONS

Christmas Mountain

Aquetong Road

Autumn Leaves

After the Trees Have Shed

A Welcome Scent in the Air

Crazy, Mixed-Up Day

CrosbyBlue skies smiling over a White Christmas

Close to Mother Nature

Four Seasons

Great to Be Alive

It’s a Miracle

Mother Nature

Mother’s Day

Spring

One Spring Morning

Lullaby of Spring

You’re the Reason

Spellbound

GOD’S LOVE

A Story Centuries Old

Before Man

From Seeds to a Rainbow

God-Made Things

God’s Gift to Me

God’s Kind of Love

Old Father Time

On a Midsummer’s Night

The Promised Land

Prayer

Only Once in a Lifetime

Partners of Nature

Standing on the Mound

The Crack of Dawn

The Eyes of the World

This Side of Heaven

Somewhere This Side of Heaven

The Gift

Only God

LIFE

Life

Trilogy Road

Then, Now, and When

It Takes a Lifetime

A Hobo on the Rails

A Place with no Name

All I Ever Wanted

All Roads Lead to Rome

Business for Sale

Light on the Bet

Throwing in the Towel

Man

Two Candles

For Some People

Bending in the Wind

Don’t Hold Back the Tears

From the Old School

I Told You So

The Other Guy

How Do You Know?

How

In Better Times

In the Prime of My Life

Is There Such a Place

Kick Out of Life

Two for the Price of One

Last Call

Merrily We Roll Along

Nightcap

Millions on the Run

Trees

Spinning

Time: The Tattletail of Life

Only Time Will Tell

Poor Little Rich Girl

Sad and Happy People

Where Were You?

The Bitter Taste

The Courage of Billie Jean

The Eyes and Ears of the World

Thoroughbreds

What Friends Are For

The Second Chance on the First Impression

Women in My Life

When You Are Young

As You Grow Older

The Essence of Life

Only Heaven Knows

Another Lost Soul

The Secret of Living

Recipe for Happiness

Life’s End

SELF-REFLECTING

All My Yesterdays

Without an Education

Among the Many Millions

As Long as a Lifetime

At This Stage of the Game

Between the Raindrops

It Might Have Been

Not the Garbo Type

Enough to Get By

A No Vacancy Sign

Father Time

Forthcoming Seasons

Gemini

Half Past My Lifetime

In My Silence

Footprints I Lost in the Sand

Meeting with Myself

Positive Prints

My Bow

My Favorite Window

My Imagination

My Life’s an Open Book

No More

Should Have

Been Here Once Before

The Star of My Faults

This Gemini

This Is the Last Time

Twins of a Gemini

Until

What’s the Matter, Gemini

This Time Around

Myself and I

My Echo, My Shadow, and Me

Black e Blue

HOPE AND ENCOURAGEMENT

It’s Half Past a Lifetime

A New Pair of Eyes

I Relish the Moment

Leave the Past Behind

Free as a Bird

Better Times Ahead

The New President

Don’t Make Waves

Think of a Happy Time

Give It Your Best

Great to Be Alive

Keep Trying

First Impression

Heartbreak Affair

It’s not Over ’Til It’s Over

Let Yourself Go

Life Is Beautiful

My Special Star

Somewhere in Time

Now Is the Time

Illusions of Grandeur

She Opens My Eyes

Relish the Moment

Since Heaven Knows When

Sometimes the Sun Shines When It Rains

Thankful

The Postman

What’s the Matter, Friend?

With or Without the Sun

Where There’s a Will

Life After Death

There Will Come a Time

FAREWELLS

A Heavy Toll

Before You Go

When I Die

Until the Day I Die

Dear Friends

Here’s Looking at You

Rest His Soul

Take the Time

Tears

Touched in Time

Trail of Tears

With This Kiss

Eternal Love

EPILOGUE

A New World

My Fourth String

Credits

Photo%2001.jpg

Voted Best Male Vocalist of 1991 by The Courier Times, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

The Courier Times: A polished vocalist who is rapidly becoming one of the area’s most popular night club performers. Cardelli sings in the style of commercial-pop vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and a host of others. His style is smooth and easy and the talented entertainer is as good as any singer in the Delaware Valley.

The Courier Times: He’s a smooth vocalist who sings in the style and tradition of his idol, Sinatra. But the talented entertainer does not live by Old Blue Eyes’ music alone. His repertoire includes a hefty share of big band ditties.

The Courier-Post: Cardelli doesn’t attempt to imitate Sinatra’s vocal timbre, but he does a fine job of capturing the humor, idiosyncratic phrasing and nonchalant sophistication of the Chairman of the Board.

Philadelphia Inquirer: "In a local café, they find a man crooning Sinatra from his heart… No, he didn’t look like Old Blue Eyes. But if you closed your eyes for a second or two, you were fooled. He sounded like him… It’s hard to believe, then, that Tony Cardelli has never taken a music lesson."

Posted in the Trenton Times Best Bets/Best of the Weekend entertainment edition in 1991.

New%20Graphic%20Photo%20016.jpgPhoto%20044.jpg

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my daughter, Catherine Ann, The Daughter of My People. Thank you for your great contribution to this book and all your hard work to see it published. It would not have been possible without you. You kept my sanity through the years, and I am so proud of you and grateful for the chance you gave me to see, before I leave, the added branches of our family tree!

Photo%2002.jpg

Wealth Is in Dreams

I consider myself a very wealthy man.

A long time ago,

I was told by my best friend’s son-in-law, Mr. Joseph Cummins,

that in Ireland, "A poor man is not a man without

wealth but a man without a dream."

I crossed an ocean, rivers and streams

before I married Anna, the girl of my dreams.

Together,

through the precious years,

we added the second, third, and fourth

generations to our family tree:

daughter Catherine Ann;

grandchildren Anthony, Elizabeth, and DeAnna;

and great-grandchildren

Gianna, Giuseppe, Marco, Annabella, Giuliana & Angelina.

I consider myself one of the luckiest guys

on the face of this earth.

Anthony (Anto) Cardelli

Foreword

One day not so long ago, my father selected four poems he had written years ago and asked me to send them out to be copyrighted for safekeeping. I did as he asked. Sometime after, he gave me one spiral notebook filled with more poetry and memoirs that he called his, autobiography in poetry. He asked me to read it over and, see if anything else in there is any good, to copyright for him. Well, from the moment I opened the very first page, I was captivated, amazed, and profoundly overwhelmed with emotions beyond anything I had ever experienced. I knew I had something very few children receive from their father. For me, everything he wrote was not only good but amazing. I realized what a treasure he had given me and that I had to preserve all of it, every word for my children, so they may know their grandfather more intimately and read about his life, especially his love for them. This is for my children most of all, so they will have their grandfather with them, speaking to them, for the rest of their lives. It is a part of him that will go on for all future generations of our family. It is a beautiful and special gift from him to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I’ve always known he was writing over the years but was only familiar with a few things he wrote. I see now, after reading everything, that he would often quote from what he wrote. I remember while growing up I always thought of my father as a very deep person, a philosopher in his own right. I would often see him sitting and thinking. He would often refer to himself as a Gemini: two people, always apologizing for the other guy. He still does to this day, saying, I’m a Gemini!

I couldn’t believe how much there was and how beautifully he wrote. When he wrote about love, it was like hearing something from the book of Psalms, Song of David, or Song of Songs. Transcribing it all was not an easy task, and it took me over five years to complete. It seemed to go on forever, because he kept bringing me more and more notebooks, week after week. The more I searched through his books, the more I found to transcribe. Only a few writings had titles on them, because he was just simply writing and writing. I gave most of them their titles from what I felt he would want to call them. It became an obsession with me to finish, my life’s goal