Archive for the ‘What are you looking at?’ Category

I Know

Saturday, April 28th, 2012

Delta 5 are playing Mind Your Own Business right now. One of those post punk bands from the UK, playing agit pop, noble attempts at funk but not quite getting there, but in so doing created something fun and totally different.

Yeah, I am at the cigar shack once again, doing whatever it is that I do. I decided that my socialist technique of doing things and letting my co-workers get the sales was not helping me out at all, and you know my co-workers weren’t doing the same for me. So yeah, I guess today was my first day of being a shark again.

And it has paid off considerably, but then again one has to take into account that it is the luck of the draw. I don’t have the luxury that Bradley has with the cigar lounge calling and specifically asking for him and therefore getting a triple digit or quadruple digit sale. But I did have the chance to sell a thousdand dollar lighter to someone who didn’t like his father smoking, so of course the thing to do is to buy the old man (56 years old by the way) a lighter.

It’s quite similar to someone like Julio who would travel and say ‘I think you should quit smoking, so I got you an ashtray.’ Of course I accepted the ashtray and flicked my cigarette or whatver into it. Today was spent with Jerry Vale and Bradley and where most of the day I was sullen since my numbers weren’t quite up to snuff, I am feeling much better now and now Jerry Vale is feeling sullen.

And now the Records are playing Starry Eyes, an old power pop favorite from the days of WPIX FM. Jerry Vale is vacuuming now so the Records are drowned out by the hoover. Cheap Trick is playing Surrender and I am more than willing to surrender.

Once again it’s a Saturday night, the cigar shack area is quiet once again, a few stragglers in winter coats and scarves walk by. That means it’s cold out. It was cold and sunny this morning as I waited for the bus this morning, warming up when talking to Annemarie on the phone (but that might be because she is such a warm person) and now it’s dropping. Oh climate change, you keep us guessing and throw anything resembeling fashion sense right out the slightly open window.

So instead of me claning things up, it fell to Jerry Vale since I used to insist on doing it myself and when my co-workers wouldn’t lift a finger to help but just rang up sales, I complained to Jerry Vale and he mentioned that I always insisted. So today it fell to him. To tell the truth as good a job that he did, I do a much better job at it.

Now the Imates are singing Dirty Water, a remake of the Standells Dirty Water, moving the River Charles to the River Thames. A little more than a half our to go for me. Just want out.

the man I love, seeing me off





two Israelites preaching hate..


09 Venus as a Boy

I Just Call You Mine

Friday, April 6th, 2012

It’s Good Friday but for me it’s been mediocre. A lot of people have had off today, the jobs that I used to have, all had the day off. If the stock market was closed then so were we. But I am not there anymore and some of the companies aren’t around anymore and beleive it or not I am trying not to live in the past

It isn’t easy though. At the cigar shack a good number of our clientele work in the financial world, and they weren’t in. Some of the regulars were in, including a loud mouth know it all who is all of 20 years old, goes to the nearby college and has opinions on everything under the sun. He is so disliked this kid, that most of the regulars leave within minutes of the kid’s arrival on the scene.

I don’t like the kid either obviously, after sitting in the man cave with him and his sycophants and listening to them bad mouth the cigar shack. I kept my mouth shut as he trashed the place and kept a note that this kid was rotten.

On a more pleasant note, I ran into Amy Allison as I was headed back to the cigar shack after lunch. I hadn’t seen her since the night Farfetched closed. That would make it January 2009. We both chatted and caught up as much as we could in a short time. We both miss Farfetched a lot, but we were sure we don’t miss it as much as Susan and Lois miss it.

So it being a holiday weekend, the area around the cigar shack has quieted down quite a bit. Not much going on. Perhaps it’s because of the Easter season, maybe because it’s from Passover. I often wondered if modern day Israelites smeared lamb’s blood on their doorway. I’ve never seen it myself, but figured if you’re going to follow the story you should follow it all the way. After all, who wouldn’t want a then hunky, now dead John Derek as Joshuapissing off Edward G. Robinson?

I used to anticipate the sky turning black and opening up at 3 PM, the hour that I was taught that Jesus died. It never did happen, but man how I wished it would. I needed some proof to the stories I was brought up believing. It never happened and at 3:15 I more than likely moved onto something else, waiting for the final installment of The Robe, or King of Kings during Holy Week at the 4:30 Movie on ABC TV.

A little over a half hour left in the night at the cigar shack. I am on Saturday and Sunday which shouldn’t be so bad. Not expecting much. No Robert Hall for suburban moms taking their kids to buy new suits for Easter. Another ritual from my past that I hated. I never really cared much for Easter. My least favorite holiday growing up and I never liked ham either which my mother used to make for the holiday.

Now I am home, enjoyed a walk under a full moon. Bill is driving to Atlantic City. he didn’t have a good day either and I hope he’s OK. I’m sure he is, still- I worry.


06 We All Fall In Love Sometimes

I Heard It Through The Grapevine Creedence Clearwater Revival

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

A happy St. Patrick’s Day to all. It’s a Saturday this year and the weather was most cooperative. I’ve been through St. Patrick’s Day in the cold, in the rain, but today was very agreeable. Not pleasant enough to motivate me to head into the city to see the parade. Those days are long gone. No more hoping on a NJ Transit bus with my brother Brian, or with Paul Hanley who I went to high school with for two years.

No, today was spent in Hoboken. I slept enough and woke up, made some coffee and showered. Bill came home a little after that, Kelly green tam-o-shanter and an Ireland scarf with one of my green ties. He looked so cute and so tired. Almost immediately Bill was in bed, sleep apnea mask in place and sleeping soundly, as soon as his head hits the pillow.

I did some laundry and posted a slew of Irish musicians on YouTube to my Facebook page. Boomtown Rats, Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, the Undertones, the Pogues, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, stuff like that. The Kate & Anna McGarrigle was also for my sister who had gone to Mendocino last weekend.

I also posted John & Yoko singing the Luck of the Irish on the Mike Douglas Show and Macca’s Give Ireland Back to the Irish. I don’t think George or Ringo had any Irish/Ireland themed songs. And I threw in Public Image Limited, Rise. The line May the Road Rise with You is the chorus lifted from an old Irish blessing which we have here hanging on the wall of our apartment.

Bill slept and after the laundry died I was out and about. A trip to the dry cleaners and then the bibliothèque where I picked up a book of Kurt Vonnegut from American Classics. I never read Kurt Vonnegut before but I had seen him enough times when I used to drive for HBJ and he was living on 48th Street.

And he was also one of the speakers at the Evening of American Satire that Bill and I attended in 2005 at the Society for Ethical Culture. He is the reason I eschew semi-colons. And it was soon after that evening that I decided to start this hear blog. So perhaps blame could be laid at the feet of Kurt Vonnegut. Or Art Buchwald, Barry Crimmins, Paul Krassner or the more than likely culprit from that satirical rogues gallery, Lewis Lapham.

While walking around Hoboken I did run into my friend Lois who was returning from the veterinarian with her cat. She looked great with her new pair of glasses which are similar to mine. She has some socks for me from a job she worked on and we made plans to meet up for a pint at Maxwells later on.

She mentioned that Maxwells was hosting a Shamrock & Roll karaoke in the back room, which is free and seemed most interested in going to that. That wasn’t in my plans but after a pint or two who knows?






♫ when Puerto Rican eyes are smiling ♪


07 Nothing Happened Today

I Got You Train

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

A Saturday at the cigar shack and it’s been alright. Working with Bradley and Jerry Vale today and it’s been interesting to say the least. Bradley accidentally took a sale from me when I was out yesterday. A sale that I set up on Thursday, ready to go. Bradley did the right thing and gave me most of the sales to make up for the $600.00 differential.

And then on top of that I had another big sale and I also sold an item that I have been trying to sell for the past couple of weeks. Funny the people who obviously have money hemmed and hawed and always said they would think about it. The guy who doesn’t look like he has much is the one who bought it.

A sweet deal, a nice lighter and an very stylish cutter all packaged in a traveling humidor. All together the items would total about $450.00. I sold it at half price to a nice guy who saw me at the Path train last month. He saw me and waved and I had no idea who he was. I mean, I see a lot of people all week and everyone blends into a blob of DNA eventually.

He was nice and understood that evening that I was toast and couldn’t even recognize myself much less a guy who comes into the cigar shack once a month. But apparently I made a good impression on him so that was nice. And he’s quite a handsome dude so it’s odd that I wouldn’t recognize him. Now of course I recognize him ass crack that showed when he bent over.

So tomorrow is the big day, Super Bowl Sunday. The NY Giants vs the New England Patriots I think. Guys are every excited, women are very excited and I will be working the event. It shouldn’t be too taxing, in fact the main drawback is the fact that I will be getting home a lot later than usual, but I have been granted permission to take a car service home so I might just do that and start the arduous process of being reimbursed on Monday.

I already told assistant manager Bradley that I might be late on Monday morning, depending on how late the cigar shack closes after the Super Bowl. He was antagonistic of course, as if he could be any other way.

Bill drove to Atlantic City last night and expected to drive again tonight but they decided to give the job to a full timer which he understands and has no problem with. I am happy since he will be home when I come home. So I suppose we will stay up and watch Saturday Night Live together which is nice. I’m not too hungry at the moment but after I write this mess, I think I will have a banana. Good for energy, good to fight the blues.

And Harpy made an all too brief appearance at the cigar shack en route to the opera. And I forgot the banana.






11 – Since I Fell for You

I Forgive You

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Well it’s certainly been a long day. Zack and Bradley are hootin’ and hollerin’ in the office, I am manning the front of the store, Who knows what is so funny? Not my concern. I just want to go home. Day one of four eleven hour days. Tomorrow it will be Zack and Thomas.

Last night was definitely a lot of fun. I made it into Manhattan to Bill’s office holiday party. Nice people, good food and a few Amstels for me thank you very much. The combo, Smooth N’ Fusion did an excellent job and I shot video for every song they did. I haven’t had much of a chance to upload them to YouTube but I will soon enough, when I have the time.

Just now an elderly Eastern European woman came in after having a problem with a local pricey supermarket. Covering her mouth as she spoke I could barely figure out what was being said through her thick accent.

I recommended she talk to an auxiliary police officer in the area and she said they weren’t around, so I poked my head in the office where Zack and Bradley are laughing at spread sheets and told them I was escorting her to the auxiliary cop who was as usual quite nearby..

They barely noticed as I walked out, so engrossed in Excel. SO back to the party, food and drinks and excellent songs performed by Bill and company, starting with I Wish by Stevie Wonder with a charming gaffe on Bill’s part.

Bill had also rented a Zip Car to take some equipment back to where he stage managed last month and then we drove Kirk the flautist and a woman from the cultural center up to the Bronx. I hadn’t been to the Bronx in years and driving up the Grand Concourse was a trip in itself. Not as run down or burnt out as I heard or previously seen, some truly grand buildings with holiday lights.

I know it looks different during the day but last night the Grand Concourse was looking magical. After dropping off our passengers it was a trip to figure out how to get back and my GPS on the smartphone was near dead but still we figured if we get wet, we would be in the Harlem River and more than likely had gone too far.

But that didn’t happen as we drove on the Martha part of the George Washington Bridge. Bill had a great laugh when I suggested we take the Martha, having never heard that before whereas I thought that is what everyone called the lower level of the bridge. Home later than expected but with not a care in the world, just driving around with my beloved spouse after seeing him play his keyboards and swinging and singing and getting merry like Christmas made for a wonderful evening.

Now I just want to get home, 25 minutes left. Zack not in any rush to get home to his expectant wife and daughter and Bradley just being Bradley with no particular place to go. I made haste and got out of there as Bradley farted around trying to figure out what a boy from North Carolina could do in midtown Manhattan. I was all set to go when he asked me to wait up and wait up is what I did just so he could skip away, perhaps into the headlines of the New York Post.

As I rode the bus, Julio texted me, Stine and Alexander are in Denmark and he was looking to go out for a pint. If I had a normal Monday through Friday job it would be no problem, but since tomorrow will be day two out of four eleven hour shift days, it’s not going to happen.

Welcome to the future.







22 – Ode to Billie Joe

I Feel Better

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

This morning I saw Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs) and Wayne Knight (Newman!) walking together and the guy who played Carmela’s father on the Sopranos as well as Kelly the woman who maintained the flora when I worked at Staffmark.

I got a big kick after seeing Kelly. We cross paths intermittently in Manhattan throughout the years. She looked good, had some dental work done. She’s a sweetheart. She always pops up when and where she is least expected. It was a very long day for me at the cigar shack, 11 hours.

It was rough but bearable. Zack was in and he opened with Jerry Vale. I was in next at 11:30 followed by Thomas coming in at 12:30. Zack and Jerry Vale were in good spirits, Thomas and I- not so much. I was not into working the very long shift but there I was rolling up my sleeves.

It was quite a busy day at the cigar shack, I sold a few expensive pens as well as a humidor and Thomas did the same but despite all that neither of us could catch up with Zack and Jerry Vale, which could account for the very good moods they were in.

The man cave was occupied most of the day, including a certain subset that was there from opening until a half an hour before the man cave was closed. Then the subset went across town to yet another cigar shack. It was enough for Zack to call them sad.

Bill of course was great throughout the day. Always supportive, he is a fantastic spouse. A few phone calls filled with laughter and love filled the lines as the day progressed. Now he sits behind me with his headphones on trying to figure out a horn part from Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Wish’ which he and Tom and Kirk and a bass player (hopefully) will be playing at Bill’s company holiday party.

I love writing ‘holiday party’, it’s so much more inclusive rather than drab old ‘Christmas party’ which is so old hat. At the end of the day at the cigar shack I apologized to Thomas for being a pain in the ass and he responded by apologizing for being such a bitch. It’s nice that we can make amends before the day ends. He’s a good man that Thomas.

Thomas closed the cigar shack and I made my way to the subway where a train pulled up within a minute of my arrival. Crediting that to some karmic retribution I rode to the bus terminal and climbed four flights of stairs. Upon getting to the upper level I saw a very long line which did not seem promising.

I saw my old friend Lois on line and gave her a kiss as I passed. She was awfully kind telling me I looked beautiful which was a nice way to end the work day. I did not cut in line and took my place at the end of the line. Soon I saw Denise Foster, another sweetheart from my past. I said hello to her and she stood next to me as the line started moving.

I was surprised that there was enough room for me and Denise and let Denise sit down near Lois where I introduced them to each other. Lois started to stand up to let me sit, but I wouldn’t have it. Besides being an artist I am also a gentleman.

I stood in the well of the rear exit and each time the bus stopped I had to get off and let people disembark. Soon I started acting like a stewardess, thanking them for riding New Jersey Transit and saying ‘buh bye’.

That got a few laughs from Lois, Denise and some of the other passengers. A nice end to a hectic day.



Denise



02 Come Down In Time

Rest in peace, George ‘Jet’ Watley, Alphonso Portillo, John Iserra and others who have fallen.