Tag Archives: Laszlo Papp

I Will Be True

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Another day in the cigar shack. After 2 days off it surprisingly isn’t so bad. Pleasant and a few laughs have been had so far. Today’s contestants are the Bradley and Thomas. And like a few Saturdays previous, they’ve been quite funny.

Each of us riffing and busting each other. It also helps that Calvin is off today and Marcus was out of the cigar shack within minutes of my arrival. I am starting to think that Marcus isn’t so bad and can’t help but feel that he’s been looking out for me. It helped I suppose that I was a customer when he was just starting out at another cigar shop across town.

Bill took off from work today, so many things on his mind and I am pretty sure a break from work and all that that entails is a good thing. Last night I watched Tropic Thunder which was funnier the first time around. It was still enjoyable to watch.

With the TV still out of walkabout, I threw in the DVD of Citizen Kane which is still fantastic. That is something I can probably watch over and over and I probably have. It used to be shown regularly on the Million Dollar Movie on WOR TV, Channel 9 to tri-state area folk.

It kept me up later than I expected but it was well worth it. Of course today being the day I go back to work the weather has been beautiful. The past two days, being the days I have off from work meant rain rain rain, or else a general dampness all around.

Still, at lunch I was able to wander over to the park bench where I usually go in warm weather and enjoy a cigar while I read the latest MOJO with the Bruddas on the cover, the Bruddas being the Ramones.

Great article about the recording of End of the Century, produced by famed murderer Phil Spector. I’ve been listening to the Ramones a lot lately. I regret only seeing them a few times, I would have liked to have seen them back in the day but I was too cowardly living in the suburbs and believing all the stories about how horrible New York City was.

It wasn’t until I started hanging out with Laszlo Papp and seeing things for myself that I found things to not be as bad as I was told. I mean I did go into the city on Easter Saturday in 1977 on my own and intentionally sought out the seedy side of Times Square.

When I came home I was smacked around by my brother Brian for not buying flowers with the money I had, instead buying a round trip ticket into Manhattan which I made sure that Brian never knew about.

I was 14 years old at the time and felt it was my duty to partake in the sexual revolution that was going on. All the places I was warned about were the places where I had carnal fun. Still I am quite lucky to be here today.

Today I also saw Sean outside and had a cigarette with him. As I smoked with him outside, up walks another former employee of the cigar shack, Der Fred, once again saying ‘I can’t believe you’re still here.’

A variation on his former standard of ‘I don’t know how you do this job day in and day out.’ It was good to see Sean though. He’s cuter than ever. I never really noticed it before. Sure he can be a pain in the ass, or was a pain in the ass, but sometimes being cute overcomes all that.

I just got the result from my ultrasound last week, all good. Nothing out of the ordinary. Good news indeed.






Talk of the Town

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And here we are on a Monday. Not much going on here. Just cooked up some chicken and pasta for the next couple of days, since Stine’s cooking is now gone. Just another hum drum day really. Not too much going on.

Heard from Janelle who gave me the names of her contacts so I can send my resume out to them and she what will happen. I’m grateful so if she’s reading this, Thank you Janelle. And she just posted on Facebook that she just got a job.

Walked around a bit his afternoon in Hoboken. Not much going on here. Stroller set, dogs and dog shit. Hoboken is starting to look like Union City with the dog shit.

Had a fun talk on the phone with Julio. Asked if there was a job at his company. I’d sweep if need be. I conveniently forgotten the fact that though Julio and I are good friends, we can’t work together. But there’s no job to be had there.

Last night was a good night with Bill. We watched a documentary on the making of a Steinway piano. Bill mentioned that he wouldn’t want a Grand Piano and I remarked, ‘Oh great. Now I have to cancel that order for Christmas.’

Then we watched Curb Your Enthusiasm which was funny and Bored to Death which was funnier. For a change we watched Mad Men which we had never done before. It was the season finale and it was very good. Couldn’t get into the previous seasons but this season was worth catching.

We both agreed that not only do I ‘look like’ Phillip Seymour Hoffman and perhaps even Drew Carey, we can add Jared Harris to the list. I knew that from the 1990’s when I saw him playing Andy Warhol in “I Shot Andy Warhol” which Julio actually worked on.

Jared Harris is the son of Richard Harris by the way. It’s an OK movie despite Lili Taylor and some excellent carpentry work.

It’s getting dark at 4:30 now. I may go for a walk later after eating. Where to? The streets of Hoboken? It’s a well trodden path.

Listened to the Feelies a lot today. Mainly since I was trying to download some free songs that my friend Andy recorded at the 9:30 Club in DC. It was a free download since I actually bought the CD last month.

I remember when I first saw their album. It was at Crazy Eddie’s on Route 4 with my brother Brian. I thought to myself, ‘who are these nerds?’. A few months later I was hanging out with Laszlo Papp who was good friends with their bass player, Keith.

In fact, one summer night in 1980, I hung out with Laszlo, Keith and Keith’s wife Kim (who it turned out was a good friend of my roommate in Weehawken, William) playing soccer at 2:00 in the morning on a field from St. Leo’s church in Elmwood Park.

I was sober and not high, just having a good time. Came home around 3:00 and promptly got my head handed to me from my father who was angry that I was coming home so late.

Things got convoluted in all my relationships with Laszlo, Keith & Kim and my father. But that’s another story for another time.