All Good Fun

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It is a beautiful Tuesday in October. Today is the twentieth. I slept well and woke up feeling good. I decided to take a mental health day. Nothing major, I went back to bed and slept a few more hours and I woke up with no guilt. I think a mental health day, once a month could be a good thing.

The next scheduled holiday is in November, Thanksgiving. That is too far away. The days off I had were around my birthday that Friday and Monday around my birthday weekend.

There was a plan for Mike and I to meet at the mall after work. The trains to Hoboken were bound to be packed and my plan is to take the Jersey City train to Newport and walk from there. It’s only a fifteen minute extra walk. The mall where Mike wanted to go is at Newport so that would have worked out nicely.

Since I took the day off I figured we could meet earlier and do whatever Mike wanted to do. Unfortunately his sniffy parole officer called and told Mike that one of the parole officer’s clients was murdered and so all of the parole officer’s clients needed to be in lock down. This is not the first time this has happened, especially when plans are made.

Mike was upset about this, but like I said, it’s not the first time. Mike has to play the sniffy parole officer or other parole officer’s game until April 2028. I made some coffee and soon headed out to the supermarket to buy items I neglected to buy over the weekend as well as items that I found that I needed.

It was a nice walk, just a beautiful autumn day and I do not enjoy autumn. I don’t like winter either, now that I have gotten older. I do enjoy those times around the Christmas holidays which are generally filled with good cheer and tidings. After that it gets bleak, once in the settled new year. I’ve been doing this for quite some time.

Work has been good, no complaints. I don’t even mind having to go to the belly of the fruit stand. I’ve gotten used to it and I guess I am doing a good job. I haven’t heard otherwise but that is no sure sign.

I just got off the phone with Mike. An hour long phone call, broken up by a disconnect. I didn’t hang up and he didn’t hang up but the universe had heard enough I reckon. He loves asking me questions about work at the fruit stand and bold faced names I had encountered. It’s all true, I have no need to lie.

I’m sometimes dumbfounded by the fact that I met Mick Jones from the Clash outside the Waldorf Astoria, how I worked with Brian Eno which was a topic I was able to bring up when working with David Bowie a year later. Mike knew who David Bowie was, and he had heard of the Clash but he had no idea who Brian Eno was or what Brian Eno means to me.

The Heart’s Filthy Lesson

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Listening to the Heart’s Filthy Lesson by David Bowie right now. Hard to believe it’s been 30 years since David and I crossed paths. I recall David and his band, playing on David Letterman. The Heart’s Filthy Lesson. The bald black woman was not MeShell Ndegeocello, but actually Gail Ann Dorsey. I was impressed by the performance and bought the cd 1} Outside soon after.

I had a touch-and-go relationship with David Bowie. The cool kids liked him a lot, and I wasn’t cool enough. I liked Elton John and most pop things growing up, and of course, the Beatles. I had ChangesOneBowie, his greatest hits at that point. I may have stolen it from my brother Brian but I do know I eventually bought my own copy.

And I did see David in The Elephant Man on Broadway in 1980. I just wasn’t a major fan. I recognized his talent. It took a while for me to get fully on board. My former roommate William and his brother Charlie were major fans and so was Jet Watley.

I am guessing that David Bowie came to Right Track Recording in October 1996 to work on the Earthling lp.

I’ve told the story numerous times, just sitting around with David in reception and having a pleasant chat. At one point he asked who I thought would be a good DJ to remix some tracks on the upcoming album. I asked Rand who gave me a list of names and I passed them along to David. He was not impressed with those names.

It was a few years later that I realized I could have put myself on the list (and probably would have gotten the gig) but I didn’t believe in myself then and David probably did believe in me, but if I wasn’t putting myself out there why should he? Of course, a number of years had passed, much too late for anyone to do anything.

My brother Frank would have been 75 years old today. He left in 2019 leaving behind his wife Elaine and two daughters, Meghan and Corinne. He never had the opportunity to meet his charming granddaughter Shelby. Frank had a stroke in 2007 and was never the same after that,

Frank and I were similar in a few ways. We both loved music and we sort of looked alike. There were ups and downs, I did look up to him and bitterly disagreed with him on occasion. Sometimes when visiting him, the first five minutes we would be at each other’s throats. Elaine reminded me that he wasn’t the same guy as before and I would ask Bill to take note as to who threw the first punch.

I would look to Frank to see how I wouldn’t or shouldn’t behave. It was heartbreaking to see him go, seeing him in a hospital bed, looking like a baby bird that fell out of the nest. 24 hours later he was gone.

Frank is missed by many. People from WFMU, people from Maxwell’s, people from all over and especially his family.