Archive for October, 2009

Ring Them Bells

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

Well it’s quite balmy out. It’s in the 70 degree range. On Washington Street hundreds of costumed children and their costumed parents are hitting up all the store owners for candy. They don’t go ringing bells in Hoboken.

In Weehawken, for the longest time (during the 11 years I lived there) the kids wouldn’t come to 127-129 Jane Street since my late landlady had a mean reputation. When she passed away that was when they finally started ringing the bell, after the crossing guard told them that it was safe to ring those bells.

It was initially startling to have the bell ringing every couple of minutes. But I indulged them with candy.

I myself haven’t gotten dressed up for Halloween for years. I think the last time was when I had a Darth Vader helmet that I bought for $40.00 in the 1980′s.

I went to the costume party at McSwells where I thought I stood out since my costume was mainly store bought, and everyone else seemed to have costumes they had made themselves.

The only costume that stands out in my memory was Steve Fallon dressed up as Mr. Peanut from Planter’s peanuts. Obviously it was a great costume if I’m remembering it 25 years later.

Last night there was a Halloween Karaoke at McSwells attended by Rand & Lisa and Lois & Fred. Roda was there too, managing the place. I didn’t go, wound up staying home. Bill came home and we had a good talk, then his phone rang and he was in the other room talking acting stuff with a playwright he is working with.

I just turned down the volume on the TV and played music until the news came on. Then I watched a documentary about the Beatles’ Love show in Las Vegas. That was actually very good and made me want to go to Vegas and see the show. That’s not going to happen at this moment in time though.

Then I watched another documentary on Joe Strummer, The Future is Unwritten. I had seen it before and it’s quite good and very sad, since Joe Strummer is no longer with us. I watched the whole thing, going to bed a little after 2:00.

As usual Bill was up before I was. He had me up for a while with his snoring. If I’m asleep first it’s no problem. But if I’m trying to sleep that’s when it gets difficult. I guess after an hour of trying to fall asleep, I feel asleep.

Bill went out and got bagels and the paper for me which was nice. I got myself out of bed and showered and tried to think of something to do.

Got a text from Rand asking how the computer was holding up and since you’re reading this you can tell that it’s holding up just fine. I asked him how McSwells was and he texted back ‘Twas OK’. I actually entertained the idea of going up to McSwells last night wearing the Mexican Mil Mascaras wrestling mask, but obviously I didn’t go.

I did go to the library this afternoon though. Picked up the Hoax, starring Richard Gere, based on from what I gather Clifford Irving and his fabricated biography of Howard Hughes. Also Rock N’ Rolla by Guy Ritchie. I figured since Snatch was an alright movie, this might be a good movie to watch tonight. Bill loved Snatch, but then again he is a sucker for a brogue.

Other than that, I’m rebuilding my music library, somewhat illicitly. I’ve always liked Who’s That Lady by the Isley Brothers of Teaneck NJ, but never got around to getting it. I remembering hearing it back in the day when FM radio wasn’t segregated.

You’d hear the Isley’s, The Who, Jimi Hendrix and lot’s of others mixed in. Nowadays I guess you don’t. I really couldn’t say since I don’t listen to the radio anymore.

I did download an excellent Kate Bush song, called Aerial. It’s really an interesting song and has birds chirping in it. I read somewhere a few months ago that when the writer would play the song, birds would flock to his window.

Now it’s getting too dark out, but I would like to see it happen sometime, just to see if it’s true. If it doesn’t happen I’ll still have a good song in my library thanks to Kate Bush.

America

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Last night was a funny night on TV. I watched the NBC shows. Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office & 30 Rock. All were pretty funny. All had a Halloween theme since it’s Halloween weekend. During the commercial breaks I put on the World Series for Bill’s enjoyment. He loves his Yankees.

He went to bed before the game was over, listening to it on the radio. I stayed up and watched the repeat of Olbermann which wasn’t hosted by Olbermann. Then the news, followed by some other nonsense then I went to bed.

Woke up with a headache. Had a headache when Bill was kissing me goodbye. I took 2 Advil Gel Caps and tried to sleep some more but that didn’t go so well. I posted on Facebook, Headache, which of course made people think I was hungover.

I really don’t drink anymore. If I do it’s a social thing. And I haven’t done much of the social thing lately. By necessity and by choice. Being social usually involves money and since money is tight, I’m not so social.

Sure I’ll do things on occasion with friends, walking around Hoboken, or gallery hopping but more often than not I am usually home. And it’s fine most of the time until I get tired of being home all the time. It’s not a constant thing obviously.

The headache took a while to go away and it was from being dehydrated. Sleeping with my mouth open is the cause.

It being Friday I did laundry and watched Rachel Getting Married. It’s directed by Jonathan Demme who I generally enjoy and while it was a very good movie it was very downbeat. It’s a very earnest movie and the cast was like a Benneton ad come to life.

And of course some of the actors are from Demme’s stable of actors. Watching the movie I couldn’t imagine a Connecticut family having such a multi-cultural group of friends, until I left the apartment and walked to the library.

Across the street from the library is Church Square Park and it was full of multi cultural kids. I guess I see it all the time. It certainly was the ultimate wedding though, with Robyn Hitchcock and Sister Carol each have a turn at a song as well as Cyro Baptista and a Samba group from Brazil.

I can’t count how many wedding I’ve been to that were just like that.

Though the day was bright and sunny it later turned into another gray afternoon which lent itself to the feeling of the movie. I can’t say I enjoyed the movie, nor was I entertained, but it was engrossing. And the cast was top notch, as was the script. So I’m recommending it.

Then a trip to the supermarket which was somewhat crowded, it being a Friday afternoon and all. Struck up a short chat with the little old lady in front of me.

She spied the cover of a magazine with a bikini clad Britney Spears on the cover and remarked that was how she looked when she was Britney’s age. Of course she was joking. It was a good laugh. She proceeded to tell me of how she wore a bikini back in the day and was worried about what her mother would say when she saw the laundry.

She told me she told her mother is was a belt.

I wished her a good weekend as she walked out the door. Just watched the Simpsons, Bill in the bedroom getting ready for a conference call. No plans for the night, just chillin’. And that’s alright with me.

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Well it wasn’t raining today and I’m pretty much happy about that. It was a bright and sunny day, a bit on the cool side but who’s complaining? Besides the usual people, who? I was even out for a walk into the city were I met Harpy for a few minutes.

It was nice to get out and about again. A lot of people around Herald Square where Harpy was doing some bookkeeping work. It was only for a little while.

Last night was different. I was on Bill’s Mac doing whatever it is that I do online. Bill came home earlier than expected, in time to watch game one of the World Series. Me? I didn’t care for the World Series.

That makes me a minority at this time of year in this metropolitan area.

I just closed the door and continued doing what I do. I was going to watch Rachel Getting Married on Bill’s Mac but Bill said he wasn’t going to watch the whole game. He’s feeling achy. His knees, his back all giving him pains.

These could all be related to some extra poundage but if I said anything about that, he wouldn’t hear it. Some people have mentioned that might be the case and I couldn’t help but agree.

Last night while that was going on, Rand texted me, telling me the PC was up and running. I was about to run over and get it, but wisely asked Rand when would be a good time to pick it up. I phoned him since I didn’t want to text. He said he was fine with me getting it this morning and we agreed to speak at around 10:00AM.

I told Bill about it but he seemed a bit sad that it was being fixed. He seemed to enjoy being able to help me out with letting me use his Mac. I have to tell you, the Mac was fine, I was getting used to the Mac commands that are slightly different from a PC, but the spinning rainbow beach ball of death was pissing me off more and more.

I also told him I appreciated his helping me out and I really did.

He went to bed midway through the baseball game and I came out and watched the news, then Easy Riders, Raging Bulls on the Sundance Channel. I didn’t stay up and watch the whole thing since I knew how it ended.

I fell asleep to the sound of Bill breathing through his sleep apnea mask. Woke up, trying to find a reason to not go back to sleep when I remembered that I was getting the PC back from Rand this morning.

Luckily for me, I have taken steps to make this apartment a little more livable and a little less shabby. We were heading towards Collyer Brothers territory and I started the day after Stine was here with Alexander. Not that she’ll ever allow him up here again, but I had to do something.

So papers and whatnot have been shredded bit by bit, page by page. The dual cassette deck that hasn’t been used in quite a while was dismantled and put away. Bill was impressed enough that he even did his bit on Saturday last weekend.

And today being paper recycling day meant that even more paper and corrugated boxes were left at the curb. Who knows? Perhaps next year it won’t be so embarrassing to have Annemarie visiting and wandering around this four room railroad flat.

The PC is working fine, though there is a slight melancholy, from not using the Mac. It is back under a dust cover, shut down. Bill hardly uses it, only when playing his keyboards. It’s good to know it’s there if and when I need it again, and I hope that won’t be for a long long time.

Picture 003

None of Your Business

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Another day with a battleship gray sky. Makes for a good nap, though I didn’t take a nap today. Lot’s of phone calls though.

Last night on the way to the train station I stopped by City Hall here in Hoboken where there were a few Manson girls outside. The Westboro Baptist Church were in town protesting the fact that Peter Cammarano, the former Mayor of Hoboken was caught in a sting.

Why did they come from Kansas to Hoboken? Because an Orthodox Jewish man was the contact used by the government to ensnare the Mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus as well as a few officials in Jersey City.

You see to the Manson girls, God Hates Jews and God Hates Fags. In fact their website is called GodHatesFags. They’re also known to picket funerals for fallen soldiers because God Hates America and all the nation’s bad news comes from the fact that LGBT are making inroads for equality.

So their god is punishing the whole country. Funny thing is, their god sends a lot of tornados and causes droughts in their neck of the woods and not so much in the liberal bastions that exist on each coast.

To a believer (which I most certainly am not) it would look like their god hates them. I call these people the Manson girls since they resemble that group that used to assemble outside the LA Courthouse where Manson and his girls were on trial for the Tate/La Bianca murders.

All they need to complete the look are shaved heads and a swastika carved into their hollow skulls. Oh the age of reason will never reach Kansas, much like it won’t reach the Middle East. No renaissance, no age of enlightenment.

Some people prefer the Middle Ages and want to drag all of us back there with them. The Manson girls headed next to Secaucus, to come back to Hoboken to protest outside the local Synagogue.

I couldn’t stick around for that, I was heading to Hillsdale with Bill to see my niece sing in her high school talent show. Bill and I were both looking forward to it. Hillary was singing Day by Day from Godspell.

An uneventful train ride though the roly poly old man sitting opposite us on the train couldn’t help but give Bill and I dirty looks as he drank his 2 cans of Coors Light, (the beer of fascists) and gobbled salted peanuts by the handful.

He also grumbled when Bill had to talk on his cellphone, albeit quietly. Bill and I should have started making out just to make him pop a blood vessel in his head.

My brother Brian picked us up at the train station and drove us to the high school where Karen was waiting. My other niece Cassie was running around selling tickets for the 50/50. Bill bought a few, I looked askance.

After eating some very good brownies we sat in the auditorium and were entertained by a wholesome group of young people. Most of them played acoustic guitars and most were quite talented.

Hillary and her friend sounded quite good and got a deserved round of applause. Bill and I also met Chris, Hillary’s boyfriend who seemed like a nice young man.

After the show we all piled into Brian’s car, dropping off Karen and the girls at home and continuing to Hohokus where we missed the train so then it was onto Ridgewood where we caught it.

Nice ride back, no roly poly busy bodies giving us the hairy eyeball. We were home earlier than expected, Bill went to bed soon after, I stayed up watching a documentary on Annie Leibowitz.

It was a pretty good night, overall. Good to see the Hillsdale O’Tooles, but then again it always is.

Dream On

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Another wet, gray day in Hoboken. Yesterday wasn’t so bad. In fact the day was pleasant enough that I took a walk. I walked by Vampire Coffee where I noticed that they had a Help Wanted sign in their window. I was on the phone at the time with the baby broker/used car salesman, Casey Chasm so I didn’t stop by.

After I got off the phone with Mr. Stork, Casey Chasm, I went into the Guitar Bar like I sometimes do and chatted with Jim Mastro for a bit. I mentioned the situation that I was in and brought up Vampire Coffee. It seems the owner is a friend of Jim’s and so Jim suggested that I mention his name.

I then walked over to Vampire Coffee where Jeff was behind the counter. I’ve written about Jeff before. Nice guy, his band is playing McSwells the day after Thanksgiving. He gave me a piece of paper and I wrote down my contact info, also mentioning that I was a friend of Jim Mastro’s.

Came home after that and didn’t do much of anything, except shredding some more papers. Had a nice dinner of penne, pesto and chicken, which is my ‘go to’ meal.

Bill came home and that was a lot of fun. Seriously, no snark involved. Made me laugh out loud a few times. I watched Heroes which was rather lame again even while drinking some wine.

That probably helped with the crazy dreams I had last night. The only dream I can remember had me flying around and running into Aerosmith who did not have Steven Tyler with them. Not one of my favorite bands at all and I only remember seeing them, not much conversation involved.

I’m pretty sure that dream occurred just before Bill was kissing me goodbye for the day. It being rainy and gray outside made it easy to stay under the covers and I didn’t get out of bed until 10:00 and that was because I heard my cellphone ringing in the next room.

I missed the call from Vampire Coffee and after having a cup of coffee myself I called them back. Spoke to the proprietress and we had a quick little chat on the phone.

She asked if I ever made espresso or cappuccino and I mentioned that the last time I did that as about 15 years ago when working at Right Track. I mentioned my 12 years of retail experience at Farfetched but I don’t think that mattered.

What mattered was the fact that I had no real experience making coffee. And that’s totally understandable. We made arrangements to meet around 1:00 for an informal interview.

I got there around 12:50 and hung out talking to Jeff and politely turning down his offer of a free coffee. The owner was in the office interviewing someone else. It certainly is a busy store. No real downtime, always some customers coming in.

The previous interview ended and I was soon talking with the owner. It was an awkward conversation for me. I wound saying that it was totally understandable that they would hire someone with experience over someone like me.

The owner mentioned that I had only came in for the summer when it’s a bit slower, they would have had the time to train me, but as it is later in the year, it’s just too busy for something like that.

She would keep me in mind she said and we parted ways when there was a knock on the door from an employee needing to ask her about something. Part of me thought it was a prearranged knock, after 10 minutes come knock on the door and get me out of this interview.

It was only a part time gig, a few hours a week and it doesn’t seem likely that I would get it.

Tonight Bill and I are taking the 5:55 train to Hillsdale to see my niece Hillary in her school’s talent show at 7:00. I plan on checking out the Westboro Baptist Church’s picketing outside of City Hall beforehand.

So here’s an early entry for today, October 27.

Piggies

Monday, October 26th, 2009

It’s Monday. Back to work for some, not for me though. I wouldn’t mind working. I wouldn’t mind winning the lottery either.

Today was more resumes sent out and no replies in return. That seems to be the way things are lately. Sent a few out this weekend too. Nothing.

Instead of hanging around all day inside I decided to go out and walk around Hoboken again. On the walk I got a phone call from Casey Chasm. He’s doing well, not much has changed since I last spoke to him yesterday.

He said he was staring at his baby in wonderment. Nice to hear. He also said, what he’s said to me before, that Bill and I should have a kid. Adopt, get a surrogate. So strong is his belief that I would make a good dad that, that was the premise of his call this afternoon.

Never mind the fact that I don’t want any kids and I do not think I would be a good dad. The financial situation that I am in would make having a baby or a toddler or whatever an insane idea.

It’s nice that Casey thinks otherwise, but ultimately my take on the situation is no fucking way. That was one of the good things about being gay by the way. No getting drafted into the army, no kids, no marriage.

I can’t say that Bill and I will get married, the subject has never come up. But I do think if a same sex couple wants to tie the knot, then why not? It will have no effect whatsoever on those who are already married.

Unfortunately, enlightened thinking like that isn’t as accepted as I would have hoped.

Witness what is going on in Maine. What is going on in DC. What is going on in California. Massachusetts. How the religious right are mobilizing to fight the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that was in favor of same sex marriage.

Earlier this year, that is just what their Supreme Court ruled and not one bad thing happened. But that doesn’t stop pigs like Maggie Gallagher and her pet monkey Brian Brown from spreading lies and disinformation just so they can continue to draw a paycheck through contributions made from easily frightened and mislead people.

You know, the Fuck Snooze audience.

In Maine, catholic churches are being closed down after being open for over one hundred years. The church’s reaction? To fund the movement to revoke the rights of same sex couples with over $150,000. Some how they found the money to do that.

Benny Ratzi, aka the pope, just opened the doors of the church to disgruntled Anglicans who are upset with women priests and gay priests in the Anglican community.

Not enough hatred and loathing for you? Come to Rome, where they’ve been hating people for a long time. Married priests? Not a problem!

Perhaps it’s a good thing these catholic churches are closing. Maybe it’s just the first in the line of the domino theory coming to pass.

And they’re mobilizing to ‘protect marriage’ in NJ now as well.