Posts Tagged ‘Mike Cecchini’

I Don’t Want To Change The World

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Well today has been somewhat productive and even better, sociable. Having off today afforded me some more relaxation time. That’s what I’d call it since I basically woke up at the same time as when I have to go to work. So I got out of bed and made some coffee. A trip to the supermarket was once again in order since after this pot of coffee there was no more coffee to be had.

So after a couple of cups I headed out, with the shopping bag filled with shirts and trousers to be cleaned. I walked by Mr. L’s, my barber and did not see anyone in Tony’s chair. Once I stepped in I saw that Tony wasn’t their either. His son Nick told me that Tony was at the market getting milk for the coffee. I set down the canvas bag and told Nick I would be right back, and went out to vote.

The precinct is only a few doors down and I was in and out in less than five minutes. When I got back to Mr. L’s, Tony was back and waiting for me, even though by this time there were two other guys waiting for a haircut. Maybe they were waiting for Nick and didn’t care much for Tony’s methods, but in any event I walked over to Tony, shook his hand and sat in his chair.

He asked how the cigar business was, telling me that he had gone to a wedding with his wife and at the reception there was a man rolling cigars. I like Tony’s work, he goes so far as to trim nose hair, eye brows and ear hair, and takes extraordinary measures to get as much white hair out of my goatee, so I don’t wind up barba blanca.

Then it was off to Cary’s Dry Cleaners where I dropped off my shirts as well as Bill’s stuff. Then a trip to the supermarket which was not very crowded but I felt like either I was stalking or being stalked. I would go to an aisle and there would be the same woman each and everytime, eyeballing me.

Perhaps I was being cruised but as usual I had no clue. Came home and texted with Mike Cecchini who lives up the block. I saw him on Sunday at Maxwells and told him then I had a few CD’s from Mojo and Uncut to lend him. He was coming over as I started the laundry so I gather 33 CD’s and put them in a bag and walked them down to the street.

The apartment was a bit of a mess to have him come up and it was a beautiful day outside anyhow. I never even opened some of the CD’s and told him he could hang onto them for as long as he’d like. I did upload some of them but the majority of them have been unheard by me, and it’s mainly since I was not so interested in the genre, be it Heavy Metal or the dreaded Americana. Metal I am almost always ambivalent about and Americana is best served in small doses.

I was out and about in the afternoon and enjoying a cigar as I walked up Washington Street I ran into the always wonderful Thaler Pekar, a very smart and brilliant woman. And despite her saying that she was feeling so tired, she looked great. Her husband Tom is a lucky guy and I’m sure he knows it. He’s a nice guy too. Maxwells people keep popping up.

She was off to the Farmer’s Market which I believe is it’s last day today for the year and I was heading back home. So that’s about it, been a nice day, saw friends, did laundry and now Bill is home too so it’s all good.

Rest in Peace Joe Frazier and Heavy D.






Bobbi Martin – For the Love of Him – 1970

Tags:, ,
Posted in What are you looking at?, What's it doing outside? | No Comments »

Crazy Rhythms

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Last night was a nice time. A bit low key. I walked over to Louise & Jerry’s. Hadn’t been there in about 5 years. Last time I was there I was with Rand and we had left McSwells and walked down to Louise & Jerry’s.

I think I was smoking a cigar which meant the last time I was there it was before the smoking ban went into effect in NJ. I was early it seemed. I walked in and sat at the bar, next to a guy named Keith who I used to know vaguely.

He was roommates with my friend Maurice’s brother Raul and also a DJ. He always was a bit flaky though. I saw him a few months ago on the sidewalk outside of Louise & Jerry’s and actually said hello to him, since he was looking right at me.

His response was to give me a look, like ‘Who the hell are you?’. He was a flake then and he’s a flake now. I sat and had myself a pint of Guinness.

Mike wasn’t around yet and so neither was my guitar. I looked around, not too many people. Keith had made a hasty exit so I didn’t mind that. I asked the bartender, Brian if there was music tonight. Apparently they seemed to be waiting until someone asked about music before they did anything.

At the far end of the bar, a flat screen TV showed the Yankees game. Closer to my end, the TV showed the Mets game. Mike eventually showed up, thanking me for letting him use my guitar and buying me pints for the rest of the night.

People started to come in and someone started playing guitar towards the back by the pool table. I wished they would have turned off the TV’s but they stayed on. Rand texted me, asking what was going on. He was on his way to the bar.

I went out and met him before Mike came on. Each person did a couple of songs, surrendering the mike to the next player. There were four guitarists total. When Brian the bartender heard that Mike was using my guitar he asked if I wanted to play as well. I begged off.

Rand and I sat at the bar while Mike played. He’s a pretty good guitarist and singer, sounding a bit like Tom Petty and Graham Parker and that’s not too shabby. Everyone else was singing in a folk manner, Mike was singing in a rock & roll manner making him stand out from the crowd.

The hat was passed, but it wasn’t in my direction and I wasn’t about to go chasing after it. Lisa eventually joined me and Rand and we all sat around listening to music and having some pints. The singers rotated every few songs and everyone was having a good time.

I headed to the men’s room and was surprised at how narrow it was. Apparently it’s always been narrow, it’s just that I’ve gotten a little bit wider since I was last there. Barely enough room to have your arms at your side for a proper pee.

Outside the men’s room there was a chap wearing a t shirt that said Paladins Track & Field. I asked him if he went to Paramus Catholic since the Paladins is the name of the sports teams from my high school. He said no, but his daughter is graduating from there in two weeks.

He asked how I knew about the Paladins and I explained that I went there. Before it went co-ed. It turned out that Rand’s high school when he was living in Florida was also the Paladins.

The guy’s name was Ken and he lives on Castle Point which is a very nice and quiet block in between most of Hoboken and Steven’s Tech. The whole thing ended around 10:45 and with 6 pints of Guinness I was feeling pretty good but knew it was time to go home.

Mike thanked me once again for the guitar and I thanked him for the Guinness. It all worked out quite nicely. Unfortunately the Guinness left me with a slight hangover today which matched the off white sky today.

the very narrow mens room.

the very narrow mens room.


A Starling and a Mourning Dove eating some stale bread

A Starling and a Mourning Dove eating some stale bread

Tags:, , ,
Posted in So how's band camp? | No Comments »

Crazy About Love

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Photo-0177
Well it’s Monday again. Hoboken was semi deserted yesterday, my guess is that a lot of people were off visiting their mothers. It was a gloomy and windy day and I didn’t do much of anything.

Last night Bill was home after spending the day with his mother. He was back I time to catch The Pacific which was of course quite intense. One more episode next week, which involves the Marines coming home to the lives they left behind and that will be that.

Bill and I watched Treme after that, which carried over the feeling from The Pacific that something terrible was about to happen. Can’t change gears so easily after such intensity. Treme was good too. Excellent cast and we will watch basically anything that Khandi Alexander is in.

Last night I lent my guitar to Mike Cecchini. Nice guy, I know he’ll take care of it. He kept calling it ‘she’, but I think it’s a ‘he’. Hung out with him for a few minutes on my front steps. I’ll probably go and catch his set at Louise & Jerry’s tonight, to hear him and to also hear my guitar.

I’m always playing the guitar and can’t really tell how it sounds even though people have told me it sounds good. Me. Going out. On a Monday night. What am I nuts? Mike’s paying for the pints since I’m doing him the favor.

I also invited Mike and his girlfriend to the party in July. He might get up and play a song or two. So far for that I have Lily & Tim, two of the Street Corner Mourners and Jon & Deena, two former Cucumbers. It could turn into a hootenanny.

I really miss my guitar. Last night I looked up Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc and wanted to play it, but…

I neglected to write about Smoke. I know I wrote about my disdain, but actually there is a redeeming part to the movie. Specifically the last five minutes or so. Auggie’s story of finding the wallet of some kid who stole from his cigar store.

He decides to go to the address in the wallet on Christmas day and finds an old blind woman living there. It turns out she is the shoplifter’s grandmother. He tells the story and during the credits it’s acted out by Harvey Keitel and Clarice Taylor.

It’s so sweet and with Tom Waits ‘Innocent When You Dream’ playing it’s tear inducing and almost makes you forget the rest of the movie.

This afternoon I watched Down to Earth on cable which was a movie Bill & I saw when we first started going out. It’s basically Chris Rock’s remake of Heaven Can Wait which was a remake of Here Comes Mister Jordan.

It’s a cute movie, not too shabby and has a few giggles in it. It was a good date movie and still easy to watch years later.

A visit to the bibliothèque was in order. I returned Smoke, Black Dynamite which was funny and very short, Rufus Wainwright: Milwaukee At Last! And No Wave, a book about the No Wave scene of Lower Manhattan from 1977-1980 by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley.

No Wave was a good book, though I would have used a larger typeface. The Rufus Wainwright CD was good as well. It also had a DVD of the live concert as well as some extras of some songs from the Montreux Jazz festival and a short bit of Rufus and his band backstage practicing some Italian operas for a wedding I guess they were hired to play. That was beautiful.

I was also able to get from the bibliothèque the boxed set of the Beatles mono albums which is everything up to the White Album, though the singles are also available on the Past Masters double CD, included and also in Mono.

I heard from the restaurant that Bill and I went to on Saturday. They read what I wrote to them in an email and they were very apologetic. They said the tip was generous and the server was quite happy about it. Why she went from hot to cold so fast could not be explained, especially since the server said she was happy about the tip.

Both Bill & I noticed her sudden change though and the gent on the phone told us to give a call when we come back in again and mention his name or the hostess’ name and we will have our meal comped. That was nice of them. I told Bill and he was thrilled.

So that’s about it on this end. Fairly busy. Can’t wait to get my guitar again tonight. Me miss him.

Support your library!

From Smoke:

Photo-0176

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Shed a tear | 4 Comments »

Crazy to Exist

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Well here we find ourselves on May 9. It’s a Sunday. Just got back from a short walk around Hoboken on a chilly and windy afternoon.

Once again I find myself not wanting to write and once again I find myself writing. Nothing else to do. Too cold to play guitar by the river.

Tonight I am lending my guitar to Mike Cecchini. He’s a musician who lives down my street, a friend of Rand’s. He has a gig tomorrow and needs a guitar to practice on.

Specifically an acoustic guitar. He asked and I figured he’s a nice enough guy so I said yes. He’s supposed to give me a call later to pick it up.

Last night Bill and I watched Saturday Night Live, hosted by Betty White. It was really one of the best episodes in a long time. She held her own with the help of some former cast members, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Ana Gestheyer and Maya Rudolph.

Not much of the current cast was prominently featured. The digital short was hilarious as well. It probably got the highest ratings in a long time. Is it because of Facebook?

It was Facebook which seems to have gotten Betty White to host the show and a lot of my Facebook friends were watching the 88 ½ year old actress do a pretty good job of it.

Jay Z was the musical guest and I have to say, I really don’t get Jay Z’s style. Just not the kind of rap that I like. Of course I seem to be out of step with most people since Jay Z is quite a successful rapper and entrepreneur. I just don’t get it.

It was a good ending to a good day spent with Bill. We decided to just stay home last night, forgoing the party that we were invited to by Lois who was actually invited. We did think about going but Bill was awfully tired.

Today I watched Smoke which I had seen before and gotten from the bibliothèque. I had forgotten how much I don’t care for the movie. It does seem to be a cool indie movie, but I can’t get past the broad Brooklyn accents. And I really don’t care for the characters. Not very sympathetic.

Now I’m watching the Matrix which I’ve also seen before. I know I’d seen it in the movies, and it was OK then. One movie was enough. Three movies was too much. Good special effects carry the movie.

Too many people really saw a lot into it, a lot more than I saw or cared to see. But it’s good mindless entertainment and it’s too windy and cold out to do much of anything so I might as well stay in an watch a shoot ‘em up movie.

Anytime Joe Pantoliano appears in anything, you know he’s going to be the bad guy. I knew that when I first saw the poster for the Matrix. And I’d be worried if the fate of the world depended on Keanu Reeves shoulders.

Remember, if you’re being shot at, do a cartwheel. A lesson learned I hope.
Photo-0173

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in What's for Dinner? | No Comments »

Ruby, My Dear

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Thank goodness it’s Friday. Been a while since I’ve written that. I’ve worked 4 days this week, and with 3 days last week I have a total of 24 hours under my belt. Already it’s more than an unemployment benefit.

Oddly enough, I’m not as tired as I’ve been the past couple of days. Pretty much awake. Last night was quiet mostly. Bill was off to see a rock and roll guitarist friend of his friend Tom, at the Bitter End. I was asked to go, but it was at 10:30 and I didn’t want to go.

If I couldn’t get it together to see Karen Kuhl last week with Alice Genese, I’m going to get it together to see somebody I don’t know? At the Bitter End? Oh I think not. I was more than content to stay home. Bill came home, then went out again which is more than I would do. Generally, once I’m home, I’m home.

I just watched TV and actually went to bed before midnight. It was something definitely out of the ordinary. Haven’t been to bed before midnight in months, at least not when I’ve been out of work. It was all good since I had to be at Greg Stevens office at 10:00 this morning.

I was out of bed before 8:00 this morning, got it together and was out headed to the bus stop at 9:00. It was 16 degrees out and I put on some thermal underwear under my blue jeans, thick socks, a long sleeved cotton shirt and a sweater on top of that. And a wool hat, my pea coat, gloves and work boots. Once again, affecting the longshoreman look.

Comfortable on the bus, reading the last issue of 2009 of the New Yorker and started on the January 4, 2010 issue. Nice to be in the same month and the same year. I’m catching up. Sat in the back of the bus where there’s more room and more comfortable.

On the bus my cellphone rings. It’s my old Rasta pal Jesse. He hasn’t heard from me in a while and was just checking in. At least that’s what I thought he was saying. With his patois and the noise of the bus I couldn’t really hear him so I told him I would call him back in 10 minutes when I was off the bus.

When a Rasta calls so early in the morning, I felt he couldn’t have good news. I thought, someone must have died. I hung out with a group of Rastas in the day with my friend Miriam and thought I was going to have to call her with bad news.

When I got off the bus I got back to Jesse, who like I initially heard, was just checking in. No bad news. He was wondering how I was doing. I said I was fine and would try to see him after I get through with my project today.

I hustled through Grand Central Station, using it as a short cut to get in from the cold. As I walked up Third Avenue, my phone rings. It’s 10:05 and it’s Greg Stevens wondering where I am. I was a block away and was in his office in 5 minutes.

Alex, an IT guy was there helping Greg with his computer. Or rather was setting Greg’s computer up, with Greg just standing there. Greg doesn’t know computers at all, in fact the other day I had to explain over the phone what a lap top was.

I set about unpacking the moving boxes and Greg made himself scarce. After an hour or so, Greg was en route to the Hamptons and Alex was done doing as much as he could. He’ll do more next week when the Los Angeles branch of Greg’s company is in, after being out this week.

I had a break and wandered over to Cohen’s Fashion Optical where I got my glasses a year or so ago. A few months ago, my glasses fell apart. One of the screws became loose and fell out rendering them useless.

I did my best, took a screw from an older pair of glasses and somehow, without wearing glasses was able to get a screw back in. But it wasn’t the right size screw and left my glasses a bit lopsided. So I went back to the store and explained what had happened and low and behold a few minutes later they fixed the glasses and they were as tight was they were 2 years ago.

Still a bit scratched even though I’ve used special cloths to clean them. While they were fixing the glasses they asked if there were any frames I would like to see and so I looked around. The woman behind the counter was helpful but came up short when I explained that I didn’t want any brand names on the side of my glasses.

No branding for me, thanks. I left the store with coupons for a free eye exam and a 20% discount on my next frames.

I did some more work at Greg’s office and submitted my hours. Also decided to send an email to a recruiter that I was in contact with a few months ago. Cathy Cline.

Cathy was the recruiter who was disappointed in me when I went behind her back and contacted the employer since I thought Cathy was bullshitting me.

She called me the next day and chewed me out, mentioning that she knew how hard it was out there to get a job, even her son was unemployed. Presumably still unemployed since his mother wasn’t getting him a job. I did try to remain in contact with her, wishing her a happy holiday and also mentioning that I was still looking for a job.

She never responded to me.

I sent an email that was written like it was a form letter, thanking her for all that she had done for me and that I had a new job that I would be starting next week and should I need staffing, and I would be in the position to choose staffers (a lie) I would keep her in mind.

Almost immediately she responded. Not to reply in kind to any holiday greetings, or any encouraging words regards to job searches. Just congratulations. I had to laugh.

I left Greg’s office around 3:00 leaving it looking like an office rather than a collection of moving boxes. On my way out, I talked with Eric who was sitting at the front desk. He works for a company called Regal which rents out office suites to small companies that can’t afford expensive Manhattan office rents, which is where Greg Stevens is now located.

I told him I had a friend who was starting a job with a company called Executive Suites, one of their competitors. Eric said he’d rather work at Executive Suites. I asked him why and he said he was the only guy in an office surrounded by women and their drama. He also didn’t like the artwork on the walls of the office. I didn’t think it was so bad. A Hopper print in the kitchen area, a Miro print in the hallway.

I guess I’ll find out about Executive Suites on Monday, when I start.

Back out in the cold I walked my old route to the Path train. Now I’m home, feet are still cold despite wearing socks and slippers, and waiting for Bill to come home.

It was a good day overall.

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Whats for lunch? | 3 Comments »