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I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Just got back from seeing the Guitar Bar All Stars playing at Sinatra Park on the Hudson River in Hoboken. It’s always a good time and a chance to see one of my favorite people on the earth , Meghan Taylor Mastro, wife of Mr. Wonderful Jim Mastro and mother of two lovely young women, Lily and Ruby.

Lily is headed off to Bard College in 8 days and the bladder is slowly moving up to a place behind Meghan’s eyes. Ruby is moving onto sophomore year in high school and I am pretty certain that both girls will do fine in their educational endeavors.

It was a good set the All Stars did tonight, starting off with Gates of Steel by Devo and stopping by Bungle in the Jungle by Jethro Tull as well as both Kashmir and Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. I took a few videos and shot some pictures throughout which I will post here and there on Facebook in a little while.

For me it was a good day overall, got somethings done, saw friends around town, quite inadvertently, like sweet Lisa DeFalco, a friend and co-worker of Julio’s who looked quite stunning. I was able to get some grocery shopping and kept trying to unclog the bath tub drain. I think Bill had the right idea and calling a plumber to come over and do what we cannot do.

I’d ask my plumbing brother Brian to do it but he usually has a full plate and is nearly impossible to pin down. I even had time to run into the city to run an errand and had planned on going to the Newport Mall in Jersey City afterward and buy some new Airwalks at Payless. But since there is a Payless right by the Path train I opted to go there instead and actually saved some money on a decent pair which I intend to wear to this event in Millbrook on Sunday which I am participating in on behalf of the Cigar Shack.

I even had myself a nice dinner today, some penne, pesto and chicken of course. Easy to make, easy to keep and easy to cook and eat. It was certainly better than the sandwiches that I eat lately that qualify as lunch and or diner. And I had time to take a nice nap which was so deep that I almost slept past the Guitar Bar All Stars show.

No worries, I was up and out of the apartment on a nice summer evening, smoking a La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Valiente and had a nice stroll to the river where dear Lilly Mastro found me first. I have to admit I was disappointed that she wasn’t performing but she had other things to do like seeing friends that she will not seeing for another year once she goes off to college.

It was all really nice, hanging out with good friends on a nice evening. And though I used to loathe Stairway to Heaven (due to overexposure more than likely) hearing it 3 times in the past month, I realize that it is a very good song. Still overplayed somewhat but a good song nonetheless. Good times and good friends make it all worthwhile.

A most excellent day off overall.

Mr Wonderful


The funniest girl alive


a very sweet family

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I Can See In Color

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

A beautiful summer day, a Thursday at that. Last night didn’t work out as planned but it was still an enjoyable night. Bill and I did not have the birthday dinner like we anticipated. He wound up staying in the city since there was a car fire and every bus that was leaving the terminal sat idling for quite a while. He decided to get off the bus and go back to the office.

He had taken off of work today and decided to set things up for his replacement. I came home and had a sandwich before heading up to Maxwells. It was certainly a mellow evening. No rushing through dinner to make the show. I walked up to Maxwells where my brother Frank was already inside.

I bought the tickets at the beginning of June, opting for the ‘Will Call’ service and Frank was able to get in as my plus one. I walked in and saw Pat Irwin from the Raybeats as I stood at the bar and ordered a pint of Guinness. I met up with a former Maxwells habitué, Alirio. We never really talked back in the day but thanks to Facebook a line of communication had opened.

As we stood there talking, this attractive woman comes up to me yelling that I hadn’t changed at all. It was Patti Quinn, another mainstay from back in the day. She had already talked to Alirio and focused all her attention on me which was flattering. She was there with her nephew Liam who just got back from Taipei, as well as her 2 children.

I don’t think she expected to see so many old faces and I don’t think she knew what was going on in the back. We talked for a few minutes before I headed into the back room. I found my brother Frank thanks to Stan Demeski from the Feelies. Stan was there with his lovely wife Janice and Frank was standing next to them, next to the soundboard which is where we always used to stand years ago.

The Schramms were playing and they were enjoyable. After that came the Raybeats, who I really wanted to see the most. The Raybeats were the band that Danny Amis was in a long time ago. Danny had bone cancer, which is in remission thanks to stem cell therapy. Still he has enormous medical bills which is what these benefits around the country as well as Mexico are all about.

After Danny left the Raybeats, he formed a band called Los Straightjackets in which all the band members wear wrestling masks. They’re big in Mexico too. The Raybeats were phenomenal. I love the Raybeats. Last night they had Steve Almaas on bass guitar. Alirio pointed that out and I didn’t hear what Alirio has said at first, but I did notice the Dan Electro bass he was playing. I had seen Steve Almaas several times years ago when he was in Beat Rodeo.

When the Bongos were a 3 piece, and thinking about adding another guitar, it was down to Steve Almaas and Jim Mastro. Jim got the gig and Steve did his own thing. And Jim Mastro was enjoying the show last night as well. So many people from the past & present, including Chaz Charas, whom it is always good to see.

Adele Bertei came on stage and sang Shakin’ All Over with the Raybeats and once again it was over way too soon. Then came the Individuals who put on a good set, all the original members made the show. Then came Yo La Tengo who did a very good set and finished with Jody Harris from the Raybeats on a fantastic feedback drenched finale.

It was all over around midnight I think, and I’m not sure since by the end I wound up having about half dozen pints of the black beer. Oh yes, I am paying for it today, but happily doing so. As tired as I was beforehand, seeing the Raybeats made me believe in the rejuvenating power of rock & roll.

So now I am home after running some errands. Heading into the city to see The Motherfucker with the Hat on Broadway. It stars Bobby Cannavale, Annabella Sciorra and Chris Rock. Bill and I are both quite excited to see it. I am meeting him around 6:15 at John’s Pizza in midtown for dinner before the show.

It’s been a very good and exciting 24 hours.

The Raybeats (with Gail Ann Dorsey) backing Adele Bertei at Joe’s Pub 2010

Pat Irwin, Steve Almaas, Don Christensen and Jody Harris


Yo La Tengo

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I Believe Diamond Rio

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Hitting the ground running. That’s how it went for me today. Last night wasn’t so bad, chilled with Bill which was quite nice. I could not fall asleep fast enough, though Bill of course falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

After an hour of lying in bed and sweating I was soon in front of the computer seeing if any insomniac friends were awake and online. They weren’t and after a few minutes I was soon able to fall asleep.

It wasn’t the usual amount of sleep since I had to get up a little earlier than most days. I was opening the shop after arranging to switch hours with Bradley. I am going to see Karyn Kuhl play with her band on Pier 13 tonight.

I made it to the store on time after riding the bus with an entirely different set of commuters. These people seem to have their act together and the bus which was a coach was comfortable and air conditioned.

Within 60 seconds of me opening the store a woman came in, wanting 3 items that she showed me pictures of. We had all three items and one was designed to look distressed. That was the one she wanted polished.

I did my best to polish it up but it wasn’t to her liking. She left the store having other errands to do and said she would come back. She told me she was a personal shopper and that she was buying silver items for someone’s 25th wedding anniversary.

It was all rather hectic, probably more hectic than it is when Bradley opens up the store. I did about $1500.00 worth of sales before 11:00 and that didn’t even count the personal shopper. She came back when I went to lunch and I gave the commission to Bradley. I had made enough money for the day.

Now I am back home. I left work early after dropping off some cigarillos at a customer’s apartment near the cigar shack. I walked with Sean who has been working in the area. He was on break and decided to walk with me. He’s going to Six Flags with his fraternity brothers tomorrow and I advised him to be careful.

A quick ride home via an express train and a waiting bus. I climbed the four flights of steps, threw the last of Stine’s hot dogs on the George Foreman and changed from my suit & tie into blue jeans and a shirt.

Knowing that I would be on the river and that it would likely be cool, I wore a suit jacket on top of all that and once the sun went down I knew I made the right decision. Rand & Lisa showed up and the three of us had a good time, hanging out.

We saw various friends from all over Hoboken. Rand had a beer, Lisa had wine and I smoked a cigar while Karyn Kuhl rocked hard in a funky place. It was a long enough set and the crowd was nice enough. My body clock was all messed up from getting up earlier than usual this morning and I was feeling pretty tired.

Plus I was still standing around, not in a cigar shop, but on a grassy pier on the Hudson River. Still I am glad to have gone out and see friends. I hope to do the same thing in August when another friend plays Pier 13 with the Neutron Drivers.

It is a fun place to see a show and the bands are generally entertaining and you certainly can’t beat the view.

RIP bird

Karyn Kuhl

Rand & Lisa

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I And Love And You

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Not much happened today, at least not around Hoboken. It was a day off for me and I was fairly busy. Laundry and errands were the main things and both were accomplished with relative ease. I scanned the job listings but didn’t send anything out.

I did send an email to a cousin of mine and once again asked if he knew of anything opening up. I did not get any response last time and I’m really not holding my breath this time. I sent some emails to Danny the K and Greg Stevens a week or so ago and there was no response from them either.

I sent yet another resume to the local bibliothèque, this time asking for a response either good or bad. Whether or not I hear from the head librarian remains to be seen. Julio told me they were looking for help at his company but only looking at women which for me, sucks.

It would have been something else though since Julio and I, despite being good friends, always clashed when working together. We worked different nights at Maxwells and the rare times we worked side by side proved to be difficult. But I would have happily put my shoulder to the wheel and done whatever I could do to get that job and keep that job.

I mainly stayed local today, thought about checking out some galleries but by the time I gave it some serious consideration, the moment had passed as did my interest. It’s been otherwise a very boring day and I didn’t mind at all.

It’s also Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday today and I as well as a few other Facebook friends have been posting videos of Bob or covers of Dylan’s songs online. I actually started last night, with Fourth Time Around, one of my favorite Dylan songs, from Blonde on Blonde.

I think credit for my admiration of Bob Dylan should go to Joe Lizzi, a bloke I worked with at Right Track Recording almost 20 years ago. Joe liked Bob a lot and lent me Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde.

Initially I saw a lot of similarities between Highway 61 and the first Velvet Underground record. Tom Wilson produced the Velvets record as well as Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Johnston produced the rest of Highway 61, but Wilson also produced Bringing It All Back Home in its entirety.

I did have the brief occasion to meet Bob once, only for a few minutes at Right Track. I forget what he was doing but I did escort him to the studio he was due in and told him I liked his songs. I know, how original eh? Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead was also in another studio and I told Mickey (who was really super nice) that Bob was in the studio. I’m not sure if they met up, but despite my avoidance of the Dead, I did know that Bob and the Dead toured together a few years before that day.

Today is also Patti LaBelle’s birthday and she seems to be getting the short shrift again. I am not sure if I met Patti LaBelle, she may have recorded at Right Track as well, it was the top notch recording studio in New York City for a while, but I did see her sing at a Prince after show 2AM concert at Roseland where she started wailing and Prince surrendered the stage to her, telling Patti it was all hers.

All in all it’s a good day for music, 2 great personalities and performers to be thankful for.






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I Am Not A Robot

Friday, May 6th, 2011

It’s been a pretty good day so far. Hopefully I am not rushing things. I didn’t sleep that well last night and neither did Bill. Lots of tossing and turning, no funny stuff on our end. Bill was up and out at 6:30. I know that because I asked him what time it was when he was leaving after kissing me goodbye.

I was out of bed a while later, puttering around and doing my usual breakfast routine. Soon I was on the street and headed to the bibliothèque to pick up the special edition of what may be David Bowie’s finest work, Station to Station, the album he doesn’t remember making, so strung out on cocaine he was reported to be.

And it’s a fantastic six song selection. The special edition is remastered from analogue tapes and also has two extra discs of a live show from the Nassau Coliseum in 1976, which is also supposed to be one of his finest sets.

After the bibliothèque, I made my way to the bus stop, once again letting the 10:15 bus go by as I waited for the 10:30 so I could finish the cigar I had started last night. At the next stop my neighbor from the fourth floor came aboard, as she’s been doing frequently the past couple of weeks.

She told me that she saw Bill’s video on YouTube and was very impressed. I gave her the rundown of how it was behind the scenes. Then somehow we got onto the subject of meeting celebrities.

I told her my David Bowie stories, my Mick Jones of the Clash story and how I would keep an eye out for Paul McCartney, occasionally walking by his lawyer’s offices, Eastman & Eastman on my way to work some mornings.

Of course I never met Macca, you would have probably heard my scream if I did. I told her of meeting Davey Johnstone from the Elton John band a few years ago and Deborah told me of seeing Elton on the street a week or so ago.

We also discussed Bruce at length, I told her of my brother and sister in law’s story of the night at the Bottom Line and how years later my brother Frank and I inquired about purchasing a copy of the photograph, which was described by the Bottom Line staffer, ‘The one where Bruce is eating out that chick’.

To which Frank replied ‘Hey that’s my wife’. Needless to say we did not buy the photograph. It did turn up in a Dave Marsh book years later, Bruce’s ass sticking in the air and my sister in law Elaine with a look of near orgasmic ecstasy on her face.

We got to the bus terminal and Deborah went her way and I went mine. I made my way to the cigar shack area, getting a coffee and picking up the latest Uncut magazine, I picked up Mojo earlier in the week.

As I neared the cigar shack I was talking to Bill on the phone and I passed someone who looked familiar. I asked Bill to hold on a second and then said loud enough for the familiar guy to hear me say, ‘Abe’. The guy stopped and it was Abe Laboriel Jr., the drummer for Paul McCartney.

Super nice guy, we shook hands and chatted and he posed for a picture with me. He also told me that he and Paul and the band were off to Peru tomorrow. We parted ways and I told him to keep rockin’ and he replied that he would try.

It’s been a pretty good day I think.




Abe Laboriel Jr.

Abe Laboriel Jr & some geezer


Abe Laboriel Jr & some geezer

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I, John

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

Drizzly and dreary both inside and outside today. Working with the brain dead Bradley who is quite an asshole today. Not much communication from him which is too bad since he’s sometimes fun to work with.

Today unfortunately is not one of those days. Last night before I left Calvin had me write notes for the Bradley today which I did, near exact quotes from Calvin. The Bradley ignores most of those notes and any suggestions. I offered to help him out but no, today he is working alone.

I saw some of his work and had some words just like this:
Me: Oh wow, that looks great.
The Bradley: It looks like shit.
Me: You’re right. What was I thinking? (and I walk away).

It’s bad enough to have to work on a weekend but working with this salt and pepper hair cut disguised as a man is unbearable. No matter. I can count on him leaving in about 2 and a half hours so after that all should be peachy, at least in theory.

Last night with Calvin was almost like working with a best friend compared to today. The Bradley has an event planned for Tuesday night and I’ve been on the fence about attending it to show him some support. Judging by his behavior today he can go fuck himself.

Who knew that such a nonperson could suck the life out of you? Oh he just left and not a moment too soon. I was near flat lining. Talented artist, zero personality. It’s a good thing I don’t write his real name, lest he be getting traffic from here to look at his artwork.

A schmuck is a schmuck is a schmuck. A schmuck by any other name is still a schmuck and this cracker is a supreme imperial schmuck.

The day could not end fast enough. Despite working with a cypher, I was choosing the music and it went really well. Before things got all pear shaped with the brain dead Bradley, he requested some Beatles ad I played disc one of the White Album, the 2009 Mono version.

Then disc one of More Hot Rocks by the Rolling Stones. I just got that from the bibliothèque, I can’t help it, Out of Time, Dandelion and We Love You are great songs. From there I went to the War Child compilation, from Beck covering Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat to TV on the Radio covering David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’.

That was followed by the Dark Was the Night compilation (which I bought the same day as War Child) and then onto a playlist which was supposed to be Joni Mitchell among others but somehow the iPod was set on shuffle which was annoying and after hearing Joni sing ‘Blue’ while in a cigar shack on a rainy Saturday, it proved to be too much so I went to Tom Waits and Swordfishtrombones to clear the air.

Talking Heads, Remain in Light followed by Steinski and The Selecter helped cool my head waiting for the brain dead Bradley to split. He wished me a good night and I said thank you. I did not wish him a good night since I really don’t care if he has a good night. I really don’t care if I see him again but I will.

Just another reason to get the hell out of there. The brain dead Bradley is a nightmare to work with. More difficult times than good times with him and I do not need to put up with his bullshit much longer (I hope).

Tomorrow is Sunday, so I will not be writing. Working with Calvin so I may have something to write about but I have my doubts.

Cheers.

before the rains came


orphaned umbrellas

a comment from Greg aka lazyteat@gmail.com with regards to last night’s entry.
“Of course you want workers comp, you are looking to exploit the system again. Millions of people are working on their feet and don’t ask for workers comp instead they take pride in their job and work through it but you are looking for the easy way out. Instead of working through your problems you are always looking to cut corners. Be happy you have a job and stop complaining, please.”

Yes, that’s me, looking to exploit the system again (?). I guess collecting unemployment was my exploiting the system. I simply cannot be the upstanding citizen that ol’ Greg seems to be. My knee is jacked up and millions of people (perhaps some with jacked up knees) are working on their feet. And proud of it. Suffering and smiling and proud.

Ol’ Greg doesn’t seem to like the complaining that I do about the job, I guess he’s been in my size 12′s and can (or cannot) relate. He did say please which was nice and shows that Greggo has manners which is pleasant to know. I’m just glad my online name is not lazy teat. Can corners be cut on a tit?

Greg dear, if you don’t like the complaining, don’t read this blog. I’ll be cool with it.
Would you happen to have any Cafe Press items for sale? Susquehanna Investment Group perhaps? Bala Cynwyd anyone?

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