Last night was pretty cool. Hung out with Juan who bought a pizza. Bill is in DC with a high school class trip and he seems to be having a good time of it. He contacted Billie yesterday and they may meet up briefly tonight. Juan was as funny as usual, and also harangued me for not playing CD’s that he burned for me a while ago. I had nothing to say to that and hung my head in shame. He played me a few things that he is currently grooving to, Lana Del Ray and a few other things. Some were good, some very good some left me cold.

He was surprised that I preferred Keisha to Robyn, since the critics seem to prefer Robyn to Keisha. I’m not about to run out and buy any of that but it was still good to hear some new things and I do trust Juan’s taste in music, mostly. The series finale of the Office came on and Juan felt he would be too upset to watch it. It was OK though since he had to leave and talk to someone who will be giving him a new tattoo soon enough.

I keep running into friends on the street and as well as getting emails from friends (fans?) regarding how it all went down at Maxwell’s. Some of them read this here blog, some of them work there and some of them positively despise Todd and stopped going to Maxwell’s when he started running the show. It was nice getting some reassurance even though I didn’t ask for or need any reassurance.

So the last night at Maxwell’s went like this. I did not punch in nor did I punch out. I basically worked for free which was almost the same as getting paid to work there. I guess I should have paid more attention when filling out those I-9 and W-4 tax forms. Then again I didn’t fill out or sign anything, I merely sat on the couch in the office while Todd asked me questions. The Swingadelics were playing once again as it was a Monday and a little over a month since the last Monday they played.

The Swingadelics were playing selections from their tribute to Allen Toussaint CD and once again they sounded quite competent. The same set, just a different month. The sound bounced off the tin ceiling and reverberated throughout the room. I still enjoyed it, the other people I worked with didn’t really like it much at all. The waiter told me of his plan for a fake campaign, purely for a laugh while the waitress was distressed over a bad back. I tried to help her out by lifting her up and it seemed to provide some relief if only for a few minutes.

At one point I stood outside taking in the night air. There was a guy with an electronic cigarette and we chatted. It turned out he used to hang out at the Beat N’ Path back in the day, Maxwell’s local rival for live music back in the 1980’s. We discussed Maxwell’s and The Beat N’ Path and drugs. I don’t do the drugs anymore and he told me that he has a $200.00 a year coke habit. Apparently he was the type of guy who can have a gram of coke in his drawer and not think about it. Will power I suppose. I told the waiter and waitress when I went back inside and they laughed heartily over the din of the Swingadelics, pantomiming doing very small lines of blow.

The Swingadelics finished once again with that old chestnut ‘Personality’ and soon I was out the door headed home. It was an easy night, not bad for Swellmax Inc charity work it turned out.

Lost my keys yesterday, and they’re already replaced. Won’t be going back to Hoboken Lock anytime soon. They seem to have Theresita Liquor syndrome, i.e.- all chatty until the money is exchanged. Then they are silent and stone faced and make one very uncomfortable and you can’t get out of the store soon enough for their taste. 2 lessons learned- be careful with the keys and don’t go there again!