johnozed

Wednesday night, later than usual. It’s been a somewhat busy day. Bill was the one slamming his snooze button an hour before I usually do. I went back to sleep as he rousted himself from bed realizing that if he hit the snooze one more time then he was going to be late. I woke up eventually, about an hour later, realizing that I had to go to work, after all I made plans to go to the movies with Bill and Billie, who is back up from DC for more training at the Chop Shop salad joint around the corner from where I work.

We hardly ever go to the movies anymore. We have cable TV and I subscribe to Netflix, so basically there are tons of other movies out there, besides the ones in the cinemas right now. And if you need to see something current, if you wait a week you can get a bootlegged video for about $5.00. That’s what I did a few months ago when I bought a very good clean copy of 300 on the street for half a sawbuck. I don’t have it anymore since I gave it to Earl when he was here a few weeks ago.

Work was slow again, but I kept busy. I fixed a door which was a major accomplishment, and I saved the company some money from repairing it myself. I can be handy after all. Carla the receptionist mentioned that I never seem to go out and take lunch. It’s true. I run out and get some food and just go back to my desk and eat. I should go out and enjoy some of the afternoon at a leisurely pace. That’s something I have to look into somewhere down the line. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow.

Tonight Bill and Billie and I went to see Hairspray. I met up with Billie after work, meeting Bill at the theater. Billie and I had some time to kill so we wandered up to Central Park for a spell and sat and talked and looked at the ducks and a crane and got a little jazzy. It was perfect. Billie mentioned that he loves coming up here and doing nothing. That’s basically what we did when Bill and I visited Billie in DC. We didn’t do much of anything. Saw some monuments and went to a leather bar and went bowling, eating at different restaurants each night. It’s great. Billie is entertained just walking around Manhattan and talking. Jazziness helps.

The movie was good and a lot of fun. I recommend it. It’s humor is even broader than it was in the original. And yes, John Travolta is good as Edna Turnblad, but the movie belongs to Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad, the hair hopper herself. John Waters, Ricki Lake and Jerry Stiller all have cameos. I liked it, but my heart belongs to the original. The songs, the acting, the whole feel of the movie are better than the latest. But it’s a different time, different actors, totally new songs. It’s worth seeing it though. Michelle Pfieffer is really good in it, as is Queen Latifah. Go see it. If only to see John Travolta dance off Michelle Pfieffer. Have fun and enjoy it. We did.

I just got off the phone with Jane. She’s an old friend, one of the Colgate crew that graduated from Colgate University in 1982. I fell in with that crowd while I was still living in Lodi. My job at that time was to drive twice a day from Saddle Brook NJ to 47th and Third Avenue in Manhattan. It was at 757 Third Avenue that I first met Rand and Jose, they had just graduated from Colgate so I guess that would make it 1982 as well. I remember walking down a hallway and seeing these two guys acting strangely, meaning they were acting just like me.

I found out that they lived in Hoboken, Jose had an apartment on Monroe Street when Monroe Street was real rough and tumble, Rand lived with his sister on Willow Avenue, not so rough and tumble. I asked them if they went to McSwells which is where I started to go a few months previously after my brother Frank had told me about it. Rand and Jose went there occasionally, definitely not as often as I did. Through Rand and Jose I met Lois and Martha who also went to Colgate and were sharing an apartment on Garden Street. They had a third roommate and that was Jane.

Jane was traveling through Europe I believe, and left her boyfriend Andy behind. Andy eventually moved in with Rand across the street from McSwells but I’m getting ahead of myself. Many nights were spent at the Garden Street apartment, getting jazzy, doing whippets and or nitrous oxide occasionally hitting the slopes. Not much drinking or sexing going on, just inebriation of the illegal kind. We were in our twenties which is pretty much a good time to do that sort of thing.

Everyone was always going on and on about how great Jane is, and what a great time we would have when she got back from Europe if anyone had an idea when she was coming back. Eventually she did come back, and I recall meeting her on 51st Street with Rand and or Jose and she was great though she paid more attention to the friends that she knew rather than the friend she was going to make. That’s certainly understandable. Eventually we hit it off. She was, and still is quite great. Jane is an excellent cello player by the way.

She eventually got a gig playing cello at brunch on Sunday afternoons at McSwells which was cool if you had a hangover from hanging out there the night before. Jane and I wrote a song together which we debuted at one of my first live appearances at a bar in Times Square called Tin Pan Alley. She titled the song O’Toole for some reason. I hadn’t heard from Jane in a while, in fact the last time I heard from her was on my birthday last year, she remembered and gave me a call.

Jane lives in Woodstock now, away from the hustle and bustle and the rough and tumble, a quiet life when she’s not on the road. She’s played with some fairly big names in the music business and toured with some of them. Just good to hear from an old friend. We made tentative plans to meet up next time she’s in Manhattan, country life is too boring for our Jane. It’s a nice life raft, a cabin in the woods, but I guess she’s just a metropolitan gal deep down. We can do a lot more catching up face to face rather than on a long phone call, though a phone is just as good if you can get together, face to face. And forget about being online, she has a dial up.

It’s a Monday. It’s raining. Meghan and Rob have left my sister, in tears. No, nothing bad happened, Annemarie was just sad to see them go. Back to the mundane for Arcata I suppose. It’s that way here all the time, especially when it’s mundane Monday and that’s what today is. Last night Bill and I watched John From Cincinnati, Entourage and the Flight of the Conchords which is actually hilarious. Best of the three as far as I’m concerned and I’m really concerned. Then it was off to bed out of boredom, nothing else was really required after that.

Slept relatively ok, though the first thought when I woke up was, ‘I don’t wanna go. I feel sick.’ The old feeling from September and school. But no one was around to say otherwise and I decided to get out of bed and start the day. Most of the time when taking a day off is thinking about how everyone else is at work and no one is around to do anything with. That’s when I skirt danger and flirt with trouble. Or is it flirt with danger and skirting trouble? No matter, it doesn’t end in a good way.

So work it was. Me, groggy walking through the apartment. Bill once again performed a wifely duty and made coffee and poured cereal in a bowl. One of these days he’ll tell me where he put those bowls of cereal and I will have a balanced breakfast. I showered, scrubbing moles and dead skin off myself, putting conditioner in my goatee, face and hair so it’s nice and soft, and remembering to rinse it all out. I shaved and dried myself off and felt more alive than I did than I was when I went into the shower, and that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?

Walked to the bus in the rain, waited for the bus in the rain. Got on the bus and sat and read 2Stoned, which I nearly have a little more than a quarter to finish. It tied in nicely with listening to the Rolling Stones on the way across midtown. Tumbling Dice, Undercover of the Night, Emotional Rescue, It’s Only Rock and Roll (co-written by an uncredited David Bowie I’ve heard) and Gimme Shelter which is fast becoming my favorite Stones song. War, children, It’s just a shot away.

After those songs I was back in the office which I left on Friday at 1:00. Nothing changed since then, everything is just as I left it. According to Carla the receptionist, most everyone left. Leaving her to sit in the office until 5:00. I’m supposed to know that since I’m her boss. I don’t think she’s lying but then again I don’t care if she is. It’s been slow lately, being the summer and various people out of the office. There’s only 12 of us in the office anyhow, someone is out and everything slows down somewhat. Much like your enthusiasm in reading this.

Now here’s some pics.

Sunset Last Week

Beyond the greenery, the Brazilian Girls are performing

Shank’s Mare

This guy stopped in front of me

These people walked past me

The weather on Sunday

The weather on Monday

The weather on Monday with orchid

Well it’s Sunday night, I got home about 45 minutes ago. It’s almost 9:00, having some Grimaldi’s pizza which Bill ordered. That was nice and tasty. Perfect for coming home, a little jazzed and with a healthy appetite. It was a gorgeous day today. Last night I just watched the telly until about 1:00, when I went to bed, leaving Bill on the couch watching Woody Allen’s Manhattan which I saw with Annemarie, back in 1978, I think at the Rialto or one of the other dollar movie theaters. We both loved it though a lot of the humor went way over my head.

This morning I woke up to find once again, Bill made coffee and poured cereal in a bowl for me. I showered and shaved since I got a new haircut yesterday I wanted to look sharp. After the coffee and cereal and watching the morning news, I went out and got the papers and a bagel or two. Sat around drinking more coffee reading the papers and checking email. It was like that more or less most of the morning. I was thrown off by the fact that Bill wasn’t going to church this morning which made me a little uncomfortable at first, just because on Sunday mornings he’s hardly ever here.

He decided to clean up the apartment a bit, which meant shredding paper. A lot of paper. I did my best to stay out of his way as he shredded and watched C-Span for some reason. Maybe he’s doing some moonlighting for some firm and he’s practicing his shredding skills. It was getting boring around the apartment, but I had a plan to head into the city, and go to Central Park to see or rather, hear Brazilian Girls. I walked yo Seventh Avenue once I got into the city and stumbled into a street fair. Not needing any tube socks I stuck to the sidewalk where it was less crowded.

I stopped at a deli on Seventh and 58th Street and got some mediocre macaroni salad and a piece of dried chocolate bread. Made it to Summerstage to find the rock overrun with people and a very long queue to get into the Rumsey Playfield. I walked around and found a small spot to sit on the rock and listen to the opening act who sounded a little bit Reggae and a little bit Latin. They were good though I couldn’t tell you who they were. The air was filled with jazz though and that was nice.

Bought a beer and soon enough the rent was due. I walked over to the restrooms and lost an ounce or two. On the way back I ran into Ben Kochas, who I used to work with at Wanker Banker. He was strolling through the park with his pretty wife and handsome son. Brief catching up in about two minutes and he went his way and I went mine. I actually saw him a couple of weeks ago, but he didn’t see me so I kept on a walking.

Sat near the bandshell as Brazilian Girls continued doing their thing. Chilled out, watched people as I grooved to the music. Nice walk back to the bus terminal and now here I am. Pizza was good too, but much better when it’s HOT. Once again it felt like vacation over, back to work tomorrow.

Pics tomorrow. Me lazy.

Well it’s been quite pleasant these past 24 hours or so. I was up late, trying to get the sound check video working properly and posted it via good old youtube which has been indispensable to me as of late. So far 37 people have viewed it, whether intentionally or what, I couldn’t tell you. Perhaps they were searching for National Anthem which is the tag I gave the clip, or perhaps, and I highly doubt this, that they connected to the video clip through this blog. Of course I find that hilarious. Also on the bottom of the web clip there is a link to Marvin Gaye singing the National anthem at a basketball game in the 1980′s. I mentioned it to my brother Frank on the phone today and he reminded me of the furor that came out after the event. I think it’s brilliant.

Frank is doing better each day it seems. More responsive on the phone, and Elaine plans to relax after she does her chores. Meg and Rob have arrived in Arcata and are probably seeing the sight (singular) of Arcata. After the town square, what else is there to do? Buy hemp clothing? And I guess Cory is off doing her thing whatever that maybe. She’s legal now so look out world.

I remember seeing Laurie Anderson at the Beacon Theater in the eighties and she was talking about how the Star Spangled Banner is such an odd choice, but perhaps correct to be a national anthem since it’s mainly about a group of people in the dark asking questions that are never answered. She mentioned that the perfect b-side of course would be Yankee Doodle, with it’s Yankee Doodle came to town, riding on a pony. Stuck a feather in it’s cap, and called it macaroni. Very surrealist isn’t it?

I had a good time last night at the game and could easily see myself going to another game somewhere down the line. I met Bill’s old heartthrob, Fred who I actually met once before at his wedding. Yes Fred is straight but definitely plucked Bill’s heart strings. And I didn’t feel threatened by him. Found to be funny and intelligent. Much like me. Hmmm…a pattern?

Today was still pleasant. I woke up pleasantly to find that Bill made coffee and put some cereal in a bowl. I showered and had some coffee and cereal. After a while I went out and got the papers. I need a haircut but Tony my barber was busy. Came back, had some more coffee, did some laundry. Bill split for his voice class and I walked around Hoboken for a bit, ran into Jolly Roger, that rock and roll dentist, now dean of UMDNJ. I congratulated him on his wedding on 07.07.07. He was looking good and quite happy.

Came back, saw Tony the barber was free so I went in and got chopped. He also pays attention to the goatee, snipping off errant gray hairs, even trimming nose and ear when needed. Full service from a nice guy, old school Italian, off the boat.

Now here are some pics from yesterday…

The calm Bill

The anxious Bill

Cecil B. Aquarius relation?

Bills?

Do ya see what eye see? Do ya? Do ya?

pre show

SHOWTIME

Ready to rumble?

his hand is like a hummingbird’s wing. Crazy!

and the home of the brave…..?

what everyone else came to see (NY Liberty in White)

the end

Late edition this one is. Well today was another big event day. Bill was singing at the WNBA New York Liberty basketball game tonight. That was the high point of the day. Other than that I woke up, showered, had coffee, cereal, checked the email and walked over to the bus stop after getting dressed. Seems like a lot of people have been taking Fridays off so the bus wasn’t crowded at all. And since my timing was ‘on’ today, I had gotten on the big comfortable coach bus. I’ve been reading Andrew Loog Oldham’s 2Stoned and haven’t touched the New York so I’m going to be behind. I already am.

Work was very quiet. It was the paid summer intern’s last day and no one was doing anything about it. I inquired if there’d be a lunch or a gift or something along those lines earlier in the week but I didn’t hear anything about it until today. To be precise, about a half hour before I left. I took a half day because of there wasn’t any real need for me to be in the office all day. I planned on taking a half day mainly because of Bill’s singing later in the evening.

I doubt if anyone noticed I was leaving at 1:00 but I wanted to go home, and get dressed in a nice suit and tie, the same suit I wore to Meghan and Rob’s wedding, with the back up tie and pocket silk from that big matrimonial event. I was lucky since it was a beautiful day, it wasn’t raining and there were no steam pipes exploding around midtown Manhattan. I caught a bus and was home by 2:00, after picking up the suit at the dry cleaners. Then, since I was going to be wearing the same, oh so stylish tasseled loafers that I wore to the wedding, I thought it best to get some padding for the heels since I didn’t want another occurrence of the big ass blister from hell.

I ran back down the stairs to Giovanni the shoemaker and spent 10 dollars for 10 seconds and then back up the stairs. I even jumped in the shower, made a tuna sandwich which was really an idea since there was barely enough tuna for a sandwich, so I ate some toast that vaguely smelled and tasted like tuna. Didn’t have the time to make more, I was pressed for time! So much to do, like take a quick shower, and start getting dressed while jazz wafted through the summertime air on the fifth floor.

Got back on the bus to the city and as I was dressed to the nines, I decided to take it easy since it was still a bit humid in the city, though I didn’t have much of a choice since the heel cushions took some getting used to. But they sure were comfortable. I made it to Madison Square Garden and met up with Bill. We were escorted to the floor where Bill was being set up for a sound check, after the Liberty Dancers were done with their rehearsal.

Bill sounded great, probably the best version of the Star Spangled Banner I ever heard. Then we were escorted into the star’s dressing room, after walking down a hallway lined with photographs of all the different rock stars and entertainers that have performed there. It was a bit of a thrill and of course once in the dressing room I looked for drugs that the Rolling Stones might have left behind. Like the Stones would leave any drugs behind. Blame the Oldham book. We watched some TV as Bill started his vocal exercises. Before you knew it we were on the floor of the Garden, being watched by hundreds of people. Bill sang it perfectly and everyone applauded. When Bill gets his video from MSG, I’ll try to post it.

It was really a great evening. Definitely out of the ordinary.

This is from the sound check. Like I said earlier, I will post the ‘official Madison Square Garden’ video. Tomorrow I’ll post some pics. Here’s a video from Bill’s sound check. Enjoy!

Almost like the end of our broadcasting day, innit?