Meghan Taylor the funniest girl alive

Posts Tagged ‘Meghan Taylor the funniest girl alive’

Apple Scruffs

Friday, July 25th, 2008

Wow last night and today, the weather has been beautiful. Last night was a wonderful time on the Hoboken waterfront. Last night, as years previous, there was a performance of the Guitar Bar All Stars. My friend, guitarist extraordinaire, Jim Mastro is a co-owner of the store, the Guitar Bar and every year the employees, former employees and kids who take lessons there get together and play.

Last year was covers of songs of the British Invasion, though no Beatles and no Stones were performed. The year before was a cover of the Beatles Revolver. This year they decided to do songs from the video game, Guitar Hero.

As usual it was a lot of fun. And it’s good to see Jim again but for me and no offense to Jim, I just get a thrill out of seeing Meghan and their daughters Lily and Ruby. I got there a little after 7:30 and missed out on Lily playing two songs. I did catch Ruby playing with her dad to Should I Stay or Should I Go by the Clash. Ruby held her own and provided excellent backup vocals.

I enjoyed the show, hanging back smoking a Padron. I was in the cigar smoking section apparently as there were a few other guys smoking stogies. At some point towards the end, my LCD screen on my camera crapped out. I could still take pictures, but I couldn’t use the screen to see what I was shooting.

I could get the playback on the screen though and it worked perfectly for video. I was worried that I would have to send it in which could be a problem since I was hoping to take the camera to Lois and Fred’s soirée next Saturday.

I helped Jim and Meghan load their car with various things after the show and was home by 9:30 which was pretty good. I begged off going to the after party at a pub across the street from the Guitar Bar. Having had a few too many beers the other night I just went home. I uploaded a video of Ruby and the Guitar Bar All Stars last night and that took forever.

I also looked at the vacation photos my sister sent from their trip to Oregon. Looks like everyone had a great time and my nephew Earl looks like a real lady killer with his haircut.

Got up this morning, out the door and soon on a not so crowded bus. It’s summer and a lot of people take their Fridays off. I did last week and this was the first full week since June that I’ve worked. I knew it was going to be a quiet day, but I definitely had to be in before 8:30 when there was a scheduled meeting.

I was hoping to see some of Feist performing in Bryant Park but it wasn’t to be. I did walk through the park and saw a decent crowd but the band wasn’t playing yet and at that moment were behind some black screens on stage unseen by the audience.

Still, I had no time to check it out and was soon in the office. The meeting went off according to plan and was over by 9:15. I probably could have gone home then but stayed around to get things ready for next week.

I was also able to call up Canon and talk to a customer service technician about my camera. The warranty expired last month but I was still in a grace period until August. He suggested resetting the camera and if that didn’t work I would have to send it in, but if I did that I would have no camera for Lois and Fred. Luckily the reset worked and my camera was fully functioning again.

I left work at 1:45 and came home. Watched the Portishead Live in NYC dvd and it sounded great but was putting me to sleep. So I took a nap, perhaps too long and now I’m a bit foggy.

And now some extras…

Should I Stay or Should I Go

Jim Mastro guitar maestro! (like that’s never been said before)

The Guitar Bar All Stars

Me and Meghan ( the best out of two, trust me )

Our ersatz daughter Lily

Padron

The ring finger

The groom fully dressed (by his bridesmaids)

200 Park Avenue

The neck

Good morning moon

Obama in Berlin

Tags:Canon Power Shot A630, Guitar Bar All Stars, Lily, Meghan Taylor the funniest girl alive, Padron, Ruby
Posted in Yesterday's News Tomorrow | 1 Comment »

Raised Eyebrows

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Well it was a fun time last night. I left here after posting and I hardly ever go out, much less on a Monday night. I walked up Washington Street towards McSwells enjoying the evening and listening to Girl Talk. I downloaded one continuous track so if I want to get to a certain mix, I have to remember the time in the track and shuffle the cursor to the proper point. I got to McSwells a little after 8:00.

Saw Rob Norris and Frank Giannini having dinner with 2 friends of theirs. They waved to me through the window as I walked and I stopped by their table and said hello. No sign of brother Frank who’s almost always late. Looking for parking could be a chore so his being tardy was easily forgiven. I got myself a Stella Artois and sat in the lounge area where the big stupid kettles used to be. People were meeting up with friends and family, I sat there eagle eyed for Frank.

As I stepped out for a smoke, I ran into Ira Kaplan in the restaurant, who mentioned my letter in Mojo Magazine from a month or so ago. It seems he was on tour and reading the magazine and laughed when he saw my letter from Hoboken. We chatted for a few minutes, then he went to catch up with other people I headed outside. Andy Peters, former sound man at McSwells back in the day followed me out.

Andy is such a sweetheart. He always was. We caught up on what we were each doing. He took my picture, so I took his. Andy is married, lives in Phoenix and just became a dad 3 weeks ago. His wife, who is so understanding, let him come back east to do the sound at McSwells as well as the big Battery Park show.

Andy has always been a nice guy, back in 1991 he would offer to drive me back to Lodi when I was living with my father for those three agonizing months. He didn’t live anywhere near Lodi. He just couldn’t stand to see me ride into the city to get a bus out of the city. I’ll never forget that.

Jim DeRogatis was there. He writes about music for the Chicago Sun Times. He was with his wife. Jim Testa of Jersey Beat was there and so was Mike Carlucci, formerly of Winter Hours. Mike used to be my guitar teacher, so if any one should be blamed for my guitar playing, talk to him.

Frank showed up and we were chatting in a corner when all of a sudden I was accosted by Meghan Taylor Mastro, still the funniest woman alive.

I love her so much as most everyone who comes in contact with her does. Her husband, my pal, Jim Mastro was there of course. Richard Barone too. It seemed every time I would turn around, another face from the past was there in my line of vision.

I said hello to Brenda and Stan from the Feelies who were both warm and happy to see me. Frank was doing well, holding his own and mingling with various people, no need for me to hover in case he gets stuck on something. It’s the worrier in me I guess. Just keeping an eye on him.

I talked to Georgia Hubley, drummer for Yo La Tengo and also Ira’s wife. I congratulated them for being part of Girl Talk’s latest. They heard about it, but haven’t heard it. Ira mentioned he talked to his publisher about any infringement but it seems Greg Gillis knows the ins and outs of free use and copyrights.

I told Ira and Georgia not to sweat it, they now have street cred. We had a good chuckle about that and I reassured him that he might not get songwriting credit per se, but the fact that Yo La Tengo was mentioned in the 4 star Rolling Stone review should be credit enough. Plus now the kids might know who Yo La Tengo is.

The Feelies soon came on, Frank was in the crowd, Meghan, Jim and myself hung near the back. I saw Bob Lawton who I hadn’t seen in ages, just waved to each other as he walked by. Barre Duryea was road manager for the Feelies and he too mentioned my letter in Mojo. It wasn’t too crowded as it was an invitation only show.

I found myself standing next to an older woman who turned out to be Brenda’s mother. She was very proud of her daughter playing bass and mentioned that it seems the Feelies might have some more life in them yet. I told her she had every reason to be proud of Brenda and that the Feelies got better when she joined. Alice Genese was there as well and she always looks good and it’s always good to see her. Scott Harbison too, not drinking even.

I was being snarky throughout the show, telling Meghan that the Feelies were masters of the slow fade out as they slowly faded out. It was a good show and a really fun time. Jim and Meghan and Frank and myself left at the same time, walking down Washington Street parting ways at Eighth, me walking Frank to his car and directing him out of a tight parking spot.

It was so good that I’m going to check them out on the Fourth of July with Sonic Youth.

The Feelies then

From left, Anton Fier, Bill Million, Glenn Mercer and Keith DeNunzio