Posts Tagged ‘Saturday Night Live’

Your Mother Should Know

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

Here I am again, in front of the computer, sitting at the keyboard, hitting not so random letters and keys and forming words, sentences and paragraphs. I am surprised to be here. I had hoped to not write this weekend and here I am writing.

Am I a man of letters? Of words? A man of my word? Can I be true to myself? Can I be true to you, the reader? Should I buy that t-shirt, that coffee mug or those greeting cards?

I’ve just gotten back from sitting on the front steps, enjoying a cigar and writing in a notebook. I know, how old school. And what I wrote I am about to transcribe here.

It follows what happened before my visit to Barclay Rex on Thursday. I was all set to go and decided to check the email from Barclay Rex to reassure myself. But I could not access my email through Firefox or Chrome.

I plodded on, upwards to the bus stop and called Bill. I figured he might have access that I didn’t have and asked him to open my account. He remarked that I had a lot of email in my account, which is true. I do have a lot of email in my account.

Thousands of unread emails, going back a few years. But the email server has no problem with it and so neither do I. I told Bill I didn’t give a shit about the emails and asked Bill to look for an email from Ryan Bibble.

Sure enough, Bill found the email and all was as I thought. Felt bad for being a bit testy with Bill but I knew I had a lot of emails and I only needed to access one which could be easily found with the simplest search.

Texted my love once again to Bill and he responded in kind. We’re still up in the air with regards to Barclay Rex, now that Susquehanna Investment Group has entered the fray.

I would never had heard of Susquehanna Investment Group if it weren’t for that certain ‘Maurice’, sending me an email from their workplace. Fortune comes in from strange angles.

So now, this is from sitting on the front steps a little while ago.

This is a twist. Sitting on the front stoop and writing. It’s a beautiful day and I spent some time earlier by the river, reading Mojo magazine. Lot’s of people out and about. I avoided the Baby Parade scheduled for the waterfront, but still there were plenty of strollers going by and pregnant women.

Once I finished reading Mojo I was bored and decided to head home and be bored there rather than sitting by the river. No buskers out today and I wasn’t strumming.

I came home and Bill was awake and getting ready to head into the city for rehearsal. He came home this morning after driving to North Haverbrook last night. He slept a few hours when he came home.

Last night I watched The Hangover. It was just what I expected, and I wasn’t disappointed. A few laughs, basically men being stupid.

After that I watched a documentary on The Mamas and the Papas. I’m sure I had seen it before but nothing else was on. It was definitely interesting to watch after MacKenzie Phillips revelation/accusation of having an incestuous affair with her father Papa John.

McGuinn and McGuire just keep getting higher and in LA you know where that’s at/And no one’s getting fat except Mama Cass.

After that I watched the news and Saturday Night Live. Alec Baldwin was the guest host for the season finale with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. It was good, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers reminded me a bit of Led Zeppelin. Maybe that’s what they were trying for. I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The high point for me was the Digital Short. Once again, hilarious.

After Saturday Night Live I took a melatonin which has been great in helping get some restful sleep but it doesn’t help me waking up and getting out of bed in the morning. But that’s not so bad.

Listening to the Mama’s and the Papa’s last night reminded me of Sunday afternoons spent at the VFW in Saddle Brook. I would hear Monday Monday, as well as Make the World Go Away by Eddy Arnold a few times on Sundays as I watched the veterans drinks and smoke.

10.16.10 jot alxndr 008

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

Hold Back Time

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Another Monday it seems. More rain. Gray gray day. Not much reason to go out except for bread and now that that’s done I have no reason to go out again.

Watched the Pacific again which was probably the most intense it’s been so far. And Treme was good too, just not as good as The Pacific. Thanks to the melatonin, no laying in bed thinking about how grenades work.

Bill had rehearsal for a play and didn’t get home until late. I stayed up until he came home and then went to bed. By the time Bill went to bed I was fast asleep. I love me my melatonin.

Haven’t seen or heard from anyone today except a phone call with Bill earlier and emails from my sister. Some Facebook postings and comments as well.

Sent out some resumes once again, hoping for the best and disregarding some requirements. I mean, really, anyone can be a brain surgeon, right? Why not me? Dropped off a suit at the dry cleaners also for some mending and pressing.

For the first time in weeks I have nothing out of the bibliothèque.

Nothing I ordered has come in, and once again an item I asked for, the DVD of Black Dynamite has been deemed too recent to order via BCCLS.org. It’s been a while since I first asked for it, and here we are weeks later being told it’s still too new. I don’t mind, I can wait.

I’ve waited this long and a few more weeks won’t kill me.

I watched the Graduate the other night. It wasn’t as good as I remembered. It had it’s moments but overall it couldn’t be called timeless. I wasn’t the generation it was aimed for so maybe that’s why I missed the boat.

But I used to enjoy watching it a number of years ago. Now, it was just something to watch while killing time.

MGMT were on Saturday Night Live the other night, and I thought they were better than expected. Any song that references Brian Eno is alright by me. Gabourey Sidibe was the guest host and she was funnier than I expected as well.

Still the rain falls.

Laundry is done and hanging in the kitchen and the rest room. Also grilled up some chicken so it’s penne, pesto and chicken tonight for me. I’m looking forward to that.

That’s the type of day it’s been. Shopping for bread, doing laundry, grilling chicken and watching the rain fall down. It’s supposed to let up on Wednesday so I am hoping Wednesday will be a good day.

Not expecting too much besides that. Right now watching Analyze That which is the sequel to Analyze This. The first one was so so and this one is even less so.

I do recall having dinner with Miriam, Suzanne Savage and some colleagues at Arista Records 12 years (?) ago at a restaurant named Gabriel’s on west 59th Street. At the next table was Harold Ramis, Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro in conversation regarding Analyze This.

It was a big thrill then, much better than the picture that was made.

Clean Shaven Me!

Clean Shaven Me!

Well Did You Evah

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

Sunday. Another day out by the river. Francine (Tariq’s girlfriend) was there as well as Tariq. I taught Francine how to play Twist & Shout. We also played I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash. I added an extra middle eight which I thought worked better.

And I made a concession, I learned how to play ‘Feelin’ Alright’ by Joe Cocker. Two chords is easy enough and it is rather soulful. It was a slow starting day and I wasn’t sure whether or not I would go out to play.

I picked a few songs off of Ultimate Guitar and chose them because of the lack of chords and my familiarity with them. Old Brown Shoe and The Ballad of John & Yoko were but two songs I learned.

Julio mentioned he would like to learn some guitar at some point and I offered to show him a few chords. That should be fun. It will be somewhere down the line since he really doesn’t have much time for that sort of thing.

Last night I sort of watched Saturday Night Live. I was actually more interested in recording songs for ring tones on my phone. Of course since I did that, no one called. And I forgot what song I picked.

Maybe the version of Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows from the Beatles Love album. Maybe Human Fly by the Cramps. Maybe the Telephone Call by Kraftwerk. I honestly don’t remember. And though the phone is right in my pocket I can’t be bothered to open it up and check it out.

It could also be You’re Wondering Now by the Specials who I am going to see on the 21st at Terminal Five.

And though I sent out online invites for the party this summer, a few people, friends and family thought the party was this weekend. I do hope no one showed up at Maxwells looking for me and Bill. That would be embarrassing for all concerned.

So I wasn’t all that interested in Saturday Night Live, but I did try to pay attention in parts. After that I started watching High Society, starring Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Music by Cole Porter.

I knew most of the songs from the Red Hot & Blue Cole Porter compilation from 20 years ago. I actually prefer those songs.

I know, sacrilege!

Also prefer George Harrison’s version of True Love to Bing & Grace’s version. I feel Debbie Harry & Iggy Pop’s version of Well Did You Evah to be much more fun than Bing and Sinatra.

And I do prefer The Philadelphia Story to High Society. I would take Katherine Hepburn to Grace Kelly, Cary Grant definitely over Bing Crosby and Jimmy Stewart over Frank Sinatra any day. Before I knew it it was almost 2:30.

I stumbled to bed where I had a dream I was working for a company that was changing management, much like what happened in 1982 when I was working for HBJ. I certainly saw what was going on and got a job that eventually changed my life. But that’s another story for another time.

Hope everyone has a good week. More resumes going out. Hope springs eternal.

From last week. I generally don't wear a suit when playing guitar, unless Mr. Epstein insists

From last week. I generally don't wear a suit when playing guitar, unless Mr. Epstein insists

St. Elmo’s Fire

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

Man my processor is slow today. At least I think it is the processor. I spent the past 20 minutes trying to open up a new Open Office document. And it’s taken me 15 minutes to write those 2 sentences. Yes, it’s infuriating.

Something that I cut and pasted onto Facebook 2 hours ago, just reappeared when I tried to paste the previous sentence in it’s proper order. In fact I am writing this and nothing is appearing on the screen. It’s taken me about a half hour to write the above lines.

I hope you think it was worth it. It’s fucking pissing me off. At this rate I should be done writing, hitting the 500 word quota by midnight.

Maybe it was because I had both Firefox and Google Chrome browsers running. Now that I closed Google Chrome everything is going as it should. Won’t do that again (yeah right).

I just watched Moon, directed by Duncan Jones. Very low key and very good. Sam Rockwell is basically the only actor in it. I thought about seeing it in the theater when it came out, but as usual I never got around to it. It is haunting though.

It’s been a good weekend to watch DVD’s. Last night I watched I Love You Man which was as dumb and as funny as I thought it would be. No need to watch the extras on that.

After that it was Saturday Night Live which was an improvement over last week. Jude Law was the guest host, miles ahead of Jennifer Lopez. The digital short was spot on, Pearl Jam was the music guests.

I watched the Street Corner Mourners videos on YouTube instead of the band named after semen. I like Pearl Jam’s politics, how they fought for the fans against Ticketmaster more than I like their music, which has always left me cold.

No, their debut Ten didn’t do a thing for me and I never saw the videos from it including Jeremy.

Bill came home as I watched the last half hour of Lost on ABC. He was telling me about the play and how well it’s going. I plan to see it on March 26.

Bill offered me a ticket for March 19 but I will be at the Park Theater watching the Street Corner Mourners that night, rescheduled from February which was snowed out due to the blizzard.

During the day I sometimes write down various things to include in this here blog. I wanted to write about how the heater in the kitchen was not working making things a bit cold. A few times I would lay on the floor trying to get the pilot to stay lit but it would invariably go out.

Being insane and doing the same thing over and over trying to get a different result, I actually was able to get it lit so it’s nice and warm once again. I am surprised at how handy I could be sometimes.

Also tried up loading songs into iTunes by clicking Add Folder to Library. It wouldn’t take. So I tried dragging the folder into iTunes and it worked just fine. Once again I was handy.

The other night as I was flirting with the blues I actually watched part of St. Elmo’s Fire. I am embarrassed to admit that I actually saw it in the theater.

I went with Hiroaki Kimura at the Hoboken Cinema when it came out and compared some of the characters on screen with our friends in the Colgate crew. Mainly the Rob Lowe character resembled a future roommate of mine who moved to Austria.

And it was a fleeting comparison since that future roommate was not the asshole that Rob Lowe seems to play in just about every role he gets. Maybe it’s typecasting.

Most of the cast were loathsome, or at least the actors were with the exceptions of Mare Winningham and Ally Sheedy. It really is a terrible movie and one can’t help but wish the worst for the characters on screen.

See Moon.

The title of this entry is from a Brian Eno song and has nothing to do with that horrid movie.

Moved the clocks ahead last night before I went to bed, making it 2:50AM when I went to sleep. Woke up at 8:00 (or 7:00) to the sound of thunder which sounded like a building was being bombed in Manhattan. Got me out of bed to look out the window.

green carnation

Air

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Got back a little while ago from the Last Sunday of the Month Shakespeare Reading at Maxwells which is organized by my friend Lois. This time we read Twelfth Night. I had about 4 or 5 roles, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and an Officer as well as another character with one or two lines.

I forget his name since the index cards go back to Lois at the end of the reading. It was fun and I did my voices, but Rand stole the show with his voicing of Feste. Had me laughing quite a bit, he did.

My 2 lead roles, Sirs Andrew and Toby were in conversation a few times which had me on my toes. I decided to try to make Sir Toby sound like Cary Grant and in my mind I thought I was close enough, but in reality I fell far short.

Sir Andrew I portrayed as a swishy queen and the Officer sounded a bit like Grover from Sesame Street. If only there were lines relating to the difference between here and there and I would have been set.

There were only 6 of us participating in the reading this month but I think we handled it with aplomb.

On the way to McSwells I ran into Stine and Alexander. Alexander has had a virus the past couple of days and was completely out of it. Nothing sadder than a sick toddler. He did give me a high five which was encouraging to me. I’m sure he’ll be OK.

Last night was pretty mellow. Just hung out, watched TV and listened to music. Also played some guitar. I’ll be reading something in Mojo or Uncut and decided to see if there were any available chords. Last night was some Pretenders songs mainly. That was fun.

Watched more news on CNN about the Chilean earthquake, and the tsunami that was approaching Japan. Bill was off at his rehearsal which opens in 2 weeks, I watched Jennifer Lopez on Saturday Night Live. It was lackluster as was Jennifer Lopez’ singing.

I only listened to the first song, the second song I was listening to something else until she finished. The best thing on the show was the digital short. Pretty much a disappointment all around.

Stayed up posting videos from You Tube to Facebook in response to a few friends posting videos that they liked, as well as exchanging snarky comments with my brother Brian. I stayed up longer than I expected, but long enough to be awake for when Bill came home.

He now has a piece, sort of like a mouth guard to help with his snoring. I went to bed before home and while I slept he recorded me snoring to prove that he isn’t the only one who snores. Even though I might snore, I think he snores louder than I do.

Yes, it’s sometimes a competition around here.

Tonight Bill is at rehearsal again, I’m just hanging out. Had a burger for dinner which was great. Had a hankering for one the past couple of days.

Get thee behind me penne, pesto and chicken!

Rand

Rand


Rand, Steve H, Lois

Rand, Steve H, Lois


Twelfth Night readers

Twelfth Night readers


Sir Toby

Sir Toby


Sir Andrew

Sir Andrew