Posts Tagged ‘Mojo’

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Cheeking Tongues

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Things are fucking weird lately. I thought it was me, but it’s not. Perhaps it’s because of the sudden change in the weather. A week or so ago we had over a foot of snow in this area, now it’s pushing 60 degrees. I’m definitely not complaining about the weather.

I just got back from sitting by the river and finished the March issue of Mojo with Syd Barrett on the cover. A tragic story about old Syd. I knew the gist of it but now I know a little bit more. Like the 1970′s, people didn’t know how to put a hand out, perhaps saying ‘maybe doing LSD every day isn’t that good an idea’.

Lennon was the same way, nearly a casualty and Cynthia nor the other Beatles did anything about it. Of course I wasn’t there so I shouldn’t really say anything, all my info is third or fourth hand.

And if I was there, who would listen to a 5 year old, which is what I was in that acid drenched year of 1967. I had my own problems, just starting school, trying to stay out of Vietnam. You know the score.

Last night was decent. Nothing earth shattering to write about. I watched It Might Get Loud, a documentary of sorts featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White. Jimmy Page, Mr Cool and mellow in this day and age. The Edge, I’m sure he’s a nice guy but he didn’t really do much for me but Jack White.

Wow, Jack White. Love his attitude, his approach, his philosophy. It’s worth watching if just for Jimmy Page and Jack White.

Had interesting dreams once again, cannabis free. One involved a Warhol exhibition of Andy’s paintings which seemed to be modeled on Edward Hopper’s work. I really don’t think Andy did any work like that.

In the dream I was on a bus headed to the exhibition and sitting next to old friend Eileen Lynch talking about the Warhol show in Chelsea I believe. Maybe I should or someone should do a series of Edward Hooper paintings in a Warhol style.

That wouldn’t be so weird considering so many photo stores advertise their services for doing photographs in the manner of Warhol’s portrait series from the 1970′s. If you saw them you’d know what I mean.

For some reason I wrote in my dream notepad ‘No, not Jasper Johns, but Jasper Johns’.

Another dream I had involved me finding a store by a motel I was staying at that sold Gauloises. That dream is probably stemming from the fact that I haven’t had a cigarette since last week. I’ve had a few cigars, but no more cigarettes.

It wasn’t really a conscious decision, it just happened.

In the dream I had that familiar blue pack of tobacco that I enjoyed for so long which suddenly became unavailable here in the states. In real life I got into an online argument with some wanker who called me a typical American who thinks the world revolved around the USA.

And all I had written was the fact that they were no longer available here. I’m sure I would be tempted to smoke cigarettes again if Gauloises made an appearance on the market again but we know it’s unlikely to happen.

That time I wrote faster than the processor could handle and that last line came out as ‘if Gauloises made an appeely to happen.’

So about the tease the other day, no it wasn’t about me giving up fags. It was about a plan for Bill and I to get a Civil Union license, document or what have you.

I had hoped Rand could be our witness but I think he’s been under the weather (he mentioned that after the parade)and didn’t respond to my message on Sunday. When he finally did respond, (not to the message but to the fact that I called and hung up instead of leaving a message on Monday) it was too late.

Bill was off in the city and both parties need to be present for a civil union. I did ask Jim Mastro who said he would witness but we both thought it would be at City Hall. Instead it will be at the Multi Service Community Center on Grand Street here in Hoboken.

Not around the block from the Guitar Bar as we had thought.

So I asked Stine who will witness with Alexander after they get out of their morning play session on Thursday. That was nice of her to be able to do so.

I saw Stine and Alexander this morning and it was funny to see Alexander having the same eye expressions as Julio. To the T, the rolling upwards of the eyes as if to say ‘Oh Brother’.

So now you know the plan. Bill and I getting legitimized somewhat in the eyes of the Hoboken city government. We’re registered at Regency Cigar Emporium at 752 Main Street, East Greenwich, RI 02818-3501 in case you were wondering.

Just send them an email and tell them my real name. They have my address as well as what I like. Just tell them to duplicate my last orders.

Cheeky ol’ me…

Things to read...

Things to read...


Places to see...

Places to see...

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Lucifer Sam

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Tired again. I used to walk around a lot, now when I do a lot of walking around, I invariably get pretty tired. It’s more than likely from sitting in at home and not walking much during the winter months. And also I’m usually wearing a lot more clothes than I do during the warmer months so that makes me heavier.

And then there are the boots which make for trudging. I know these boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do. But in the wintertime, it’s a schlep.

Bill was off to drive a bus this morning at 2:30 this morning. Somehow I was conscious enough to ask him to turn on his Google Latitude so I could track his progress. I was a bit worried since big snowstorms were headed for the Albany area and that was where Bill and his theater group were headed.

Not worried enough to stay awake and pace the floor. I went back to sleep.

I’ve been setting my alarm clock lately and so I’ve been waking up around 8:30. I know, 8:30. Those of you who are employed like I once was can all roll your eyes at the luxury of waking up at 8:30. The others can just put their clothes on instead of walking around their homes naked.

You know who you are.

I had plans to head into the city to help out Greg Stevens so instead of watching Gilmore Girls which is what I watch at 11:00, I headed out midway through. It was actually the last episode so I recorded it.

Ah, Stars Hollow. In some ways Hoboken reminds me of Stars Hollow. In very vague ways of course. When looking at it on paper it seems absurd. Then again, one of the categories for various entries, is Abstract Absurdist Otherness which is what I sometimes am.

I waited for the bus on Washington Street and ran into a neighbor from my building who was also heading into the city. Deborah from the fourth floor was off to her therapy. I asked perhaps brazenly if it was physical or psycho therapy.

It was psychotherapy.

We had a good talk. I told her of my experiences seeing a therapist, how I couldn’t commit to a long term relationship with them since the problem that got me there in the first place usually solved itself or subsided.

Deborah told me the therapist wasn’t charging her for the sessions, but she was stuck for something to say. I explained to Deborah that sometimes when I was going, I would feel fine and also wondering what I would talk about.

Like, if I had a session on a Tuesday, Wednesday through Monday I was fine, yet anxiety ridden that day trying to come up with something to say. I also did not appreciate being fit into a textbook, as my therapists would usually try to apply those lessons to me.

Not your average bear or wolf, me.

It was a good ride though and me being me, was all blah blah this and blah blah that. A walk across town, stopping at Barnes and Noble to get the latest Mojo. Syd Barrett on the cover, Syd Barrett influenced CD inside.

Made it over to Greg Stevens office and on the way up in the elevator I talked with Alex the IT guy who’s also helping Greg out. Alex mentioned that it would make sense for Greg to hire me as his assistant and I couldn’t help but agree.

Money being tight meant that it isn’t meant to be at this moment. Greg was as flustered as usual as Alex and I moved things around in his office. Soon I was out on the street again trying to find a 25 foot DSL cable.

No luck with that so we decided to order one online and have it delivered by Monday, which is when I will be back in Greg’s office. Walked back to the Path train and then back to the apartment which is where I am now, watching the final episode of the Gilmore Girls.

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Search and Destroy

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

A nice Saturday afternoon, unspoiled. Last night was nice too. Bill and I hanging out, watching a recording of the Office from Thursday night and Talk Soup. Both enjoyable and filled with laughs and as usual the Office provided nervous chuckles.

Bill went to bed midway through Bill Maher’s show on HBO. It seems I enjoy Bill Maher if someone else is watching with me. Otherwise I just pick up a magazine and read while it goes on. I did pay some attention though.

Bill Maher’s guests last night were Andrew Breitbart and Michael Eric Dyson. Breitbart playing the role of conservative blow hard to a T while Dyson intelligently explained his own point of view (the liberal side) which effectively made Breitbart look like exactly what he is, a conservative blow hard.

I went to bed a little while after that, Bill fast asleep in the bed. It is nice to have him there though and I find myself falling asleep to the sound of his snoring.

Woke up before 9:00 which was nice for a Saturday. Had my cuppa before heading out for morning foodstuffs.

Totally unlike last week, Fake Patrick’s Day. No groups of twenty somethings heading off to parties at 10:00AM. Came home and Bill was awake and puttering about.

Read the papers and helped Bill with cleaning up the apartment. Needed to get vacuum bags for the new vacuum cleaner I got from work last week.

He was planning on heading out at 1:00, at least thats what he told me at 12:50. We actually left together at 2:30. He was off to the dry cleaners and laundromat while I stood outside smoking a Joya De Nicaragua that I picked up yesterday.

Walked Bill off to the bus stop and then I ambled down Washington Street. . Nice enough day in the sun, chilly in the shade but I didn’t mind. A good cigar and I listened to the second half of A Hard Days Night on the iPod.

Came home and finished Mojo magazine with Pete Townshend circa 1967 on the cover from The Who Sell Out photo sessions. Very good interview with Nick Lowe inside and for once a not too pretentious article by Dave Marsh about the Who.

Picked up some adequate vacuum bags and came home and started vacuuming. Very powerful vacuum cleaner, it sucks so strongly that if you put the nozzle to the floor it takes two hands to lift it. Good to know I think. I don’t think it was ever used in the office.

While I vacuumed I listened to Dark Was The Night, the Red Hot compilation that I picked up last week. It was better than I expected it to be. 2 discs that I played in sequence. Even Antony sounds good on it which for me, says something. Highly recommended.

I’m presently listening to War Child- Heroes, another charity CD I bought last week. It’s fun, but I tell you the guy from the Hold Steady who sings Bruce’s Atlantic City seems to have graduated summa cum laude from the Springsteen School of Singing. I find it annoying, but the singer is known for his love of all things Bruce.

Hot Chip’s cover of Joy Division’s Transmission is a lot of fun, a lot more fun than Ian Curtis and company. I never really ‘got’ Joy Division. Always found them depressing. New Order I liked. Go fish.

Rufus Wainwright singing Brian Wilson’s Wonderful/Song for Children is a wonderful reminder of what a beautiful voice Rufus has. Scissor Sisters singing Roxy Music’s Do The Strand is as much fun as their cover of the Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb.

And after trying to figure out why the Blood Bank EP by Bon Iver was so pricey, I downloaded a copy. 4 songs, pirated. Argh.

I would have purchased a physical copy if the price was right, but it wasn’t.

31409-jot-001

It's a trap!

It's a trap!

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Shakin’ All Over

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

Oh that Kenny G. He’s on TV right now playing his horn on some ice skating program. He’s the butt of a lot of jokes but I talked with him a while ago on the phone while working for Arista Records and found him to be quite a nice guy.

So I have no beef with him. I won’t run out and buy his records or anything like that but I really have nothing bad to say about him. I wish I knew him better so I could recommend Harpy working for him.

I just got home from Manhattan. Nice day to walk around the city. I headed into the office and cleaned some vases with bamboo shoots in them and roots and rocks covered in algae. I try to clean them once a month but I’ve been lax in that department.

I was also able to take care of a few things that occurred during my absence yesterday. It’s true, these people I work with and support can’t do anything for themselves. They are spoiled. I’m not complaining since I’m the one who’s spoiled them and it keeps me busy. The smallest thing I do makes me look good I think and I intend to keep this up until the lease runs out in March 2010.

Last night I watched a little bit of Factory Girl (The Edie Sedgwick story) which had a bit of the song, Shakin’ All Over. I loved the version and went to iTunes to find out who had done it. Of course it’s a classic and covered by dozens of artists. I found a version I really liked by Iggy Pop and downloaded it. But still- who did the classic 1960′s version?

I enjoyed a Padron as I walked back to the Path train. I wasn’t going to take the bus home since it took forever to get into the city on the bus. One lane going in through the Lincoln Tunnel, plus the bus had a slight collision with a truck. Nothing bad happened and we only stopped for a few minutes.

I was reading about Caroline Kennedy in the New Yorker and a woman next to me asked what I thought about the article I had just finished. We would up having a nice chat about the Kennedy’s and politics. I mentioned that it’s sometimes confusing and infuriating that being so close to New York, we get all the information about New York politics, like Caroline Kennedy thinking about becoming a Senator for the Empire State.

Ultimately it wouldn’t concern me one way or another, but I was drawn into it due to the Kennedy myths. My seat mate felt the same way. She’s an Irish Catholic and I’m a Irish Atheist, formerly catholic. It was a nice chat. She was chubby cheeked enough that she could have passed for one of my cousins. And we both still feel bad about John F. Kennedy Jr and his untimely demise.

I talked with my sister on the phone as I puffed on my Padron and walked down Fifth Avenue towards the Path train. She and her husband, Rex are enjoying the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss CD I got Rex for his birthday this past week, Raising Sand.

Annemarie is going to burn it for me since I was pretty much intrigued by the song that I had heard. I, in turn promised to burn a copy of Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It. I posted the 100 Yard Dash on my Facebook page page and Annemarie liked it.

It promises to be another quiet night tonight. No plans really. Got the new Mojo and Uncut magazines which I will likely peruse while perhaps watching Renee Fleming on the Elvis Costello show, Spectacle. That’s it on this end. Hope all is well with you and yours, as it is with me and mine.

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Since You’ve Been Gone

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

A blasé Saturday and that’s fine by me. Stayed up last night watching Elvis Costello interviewing Elton John. It was quite good. Elton discussing Leon Russell, Laura Nyro and David Ackles and how much of an influence they were on him.

Some footage of each artist, each clip less than a minute though. Elton is so pudgy now. He looked comfortable with it, so good for him. Elvis opened the show singing Border Song with Allen Toussaint who may be his musical director.

They did release an album a while ago, singing songs about Hurricane Katrina. They also sand Working in a Coalmine, which is a Toussaint song. Elton sang a good portion of Burn Down the Mission, which was a favorite Elton song for me a number of years ago. It was worth watching.

After that I went to sleep waking up around 9:00 this morning. Pretty cold, temperatures in the low 30’s. Bill in Stuyvesant Town, we talked on the phone. I got the papers and some foodstuffs then started the laundry after breakfast.

Watched the Office and 30 Rock, recorded on Thursday night. Very very funny. 30 Rock was the funnier of the two.

Stopped by the Hoboken library to pick up a book I ordered a few weeks ago and forgot all about it. Turned out to be Frontman by Richard Barone. I was embarrassed and promptly put it in my bag.

I don’t know what made me order it in the first place, I think it was an online article from Popdose, an email I get daily. It was from an interview with Richard Barone and how great he is blah blah blah.

I used to think that, but as time went on I changed my feelings and now think Jim Mastro is great and Richard Barone, not so much. He’s genuinely nice that Jim, as are Rob and Frank. With Barone it seems like it’s phony.

Never got around to buying the Bongo’s Drums Along the Hudson on CD though I did take it out of the library and now it’s an mp3.

Decided to head into the city to visit Farfetched. Before that I went to Virgin and bought the latest Mojo and Uncut magazines. Big sale on cd’s. Guess they’ll be liquidating soon since the Virgin Mega-stores will be shuttered in the next year I think.

People roaming around but not really buying anything. That’s the case at Farfetched as well. No one has much money for anything this year during the holiday season and of course there is the worry about whether or not they will have jobs come Monday or the week after that or the week after that and so on.

It was good to see Harpy and Lois behind the counter. It seems pretty much definite that I won’t be working there this season. I’m pretty sure I would have heard something by now. But it’s cool.

I have a day job and this is Susan and Lois and Harpy’s main source of income. I’m not greedy.

Walked through Manhattan having a Padron and headed to the Path train. That’s about it.

The Vatican will NOT support a UN resolution to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. I’m so glad I have nothing to do with those ‘men’ in fancy dresses and hats anymore. Somethings are just too gay, even for me.

What did YOU do today?

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Easy to Love

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Last night was nice and certainly not as raucous as other birthdays that I’ve had. I’ve had birthday evenings filled with whippets, acid, coke, booze but not any more. It was the first time in a while that a hangover did not follow the next day. I’m not complaining though some madness would have been nice last night.

After dinner Bill went right to bed and I watched TV. Just like any other night. Bill was up and out at 4:00 this morning. Some church function in upstate New York. A nice kiss goodbye, then he was out of the apartment leaving every light on in every room but the bedroom. I stirred about 5 hours later, waking to find the news of Hurricane Ike kicking Texas ass.

Pretty bad down there. I was telling Bill last night about my father working for the Port of Galveston years ago. From the reports this morning there might not be much of Galveston left, not to mention the ports themselves.

I stopped buying the New York Post this morning. I’ve been buying it for a while now, a perverse thrill but it’s mainly been pissing me off. I can read it online and save myself $0.50. Why should Murdoch get any of my hard earned cash? I can afford it, but it’s the principle.

Just too stupid and wrong wing and I admit a certain snobbery when I would see people reading it on the subway or the bus while I sit and read the New Yorker. It’s not right but it’s a fun moment being judgmental. I have had my moments and I’m pretty sure I’ve been judged for doing a lot worse than reading a tabloid. I

was planning on going for a bike ride this afternoon but it looked like rain so I didn’t. Stayed local and walked over tot he river and read the latest Mojo. Ran into Michael Hill who’s always a nice guy to talk to.

I forget who it was a while ago who had something to say about Michael but I’ve never had any problems with him. He even tried to get me a job at Warner Brother music a couple of decades ago but that didn’t pan out. He was soon on his way and I finished the cigar I was enjoying and walked home as it started to drizzle a bit while talking to my sister on the phone.

15 minute walk from Sinatra Park to my apartment all the while talking to my sister about making pesto sauce. I did try to make the pesto sauce and it certainly was not like the pesto that I would have for lunch. I did not buy heavy cream and following Harpy and Annemarie’s instructions it came out badly.

When I would get the penne pesto and chicken for lunch it was creamy and the pasta was covered in a green sauce. This was speckled with some pesto and rather bland.

Annemarie is worried about the cholesterol with the heavy cream but I was planning on only using a dash of it, to liquefy the pesto which is clumpy. And I couldn’t find any info online.

Plenty of info on how to make pesto sauce from scratch, but nothing about a recipe if the pesto sauce has been store bought. We’ll see about tomorrow.

Today’s weather

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