The Roches popped into my head. Specifically ‘We’ which opens Maggie, Terre and Suzzy’s debut. I can’t explain but I fell in love with them the first time I heard them. It may have been at WFMU in East Orange, visiting my brother Frank while he was on the air.

I seem to remember Frank playing ‘The Hammond Song’ and mentioning Robert Fripp doing Robert Fripp things in the middle of the song. The Hammond Song is probably their most well-known song. It was even covered by Terry Hall when he was in the Colourfield after his time in the Specials and Fun Boy Three.

I am playing the Hammond Song right now, in fact playing their first album. Their first record was released in June 1979. I probably visited Frank’s show that summer and going back to school in September, I got some strange reactions from classmates who only knew me as a punk rock new waver.

My high school classmate from Harrington Park, the late Jim Carley mentioned the Roches used to sing in his church for the holidays and I do not think he was impressed.

I didn’t much care for their next album, Nerds. It was more of a rock and roll album with various downtown musicians like Fred Smith from Television and Jay Dee Daugherty from the Patti Smith Group among others backing them up.

I did enjoy some of the songs when I finally saw them live at Town Hall. ‘The Death of Suzzy Roche’ was funny and got a few laughs as well as a round of applause. I just played the whole Nurds album and it was better than I remembered. It’s been about 46 years since I last played it and I am certainly not the same person I was when it was released in September 1980.

I also saw the Roches when they played the Bottom Line as the Caroling Carolers singing holiday songs at Christmas time. A few of those songs wound up on We Three Kings, a collection of holiday songs that got a lot of play at Farfetched during that time of end of the year.

It always interested me in the cross-section of people that generally loved the Roches. At Farfetched people would come up to the counter and ask who was playing, and when they found out it was the Roches, they would tell their tales of how much they loved those sisters from New Jersey.

I think my favorite Roches album would be Keep on Doing. Jet Watley and I bonded over that one. It is a little bit more produced than their first one was also produced by Robert Fripp.

I had a crush on Maggie Roche. There was just something about her, her voice hitting those bass notes while her sisters sang higher notes. I always hoped she would wander into arfetched since I think she had lived in the area.

It never happened though and I am quite sure I would have been quite a fan boy if it had happened. Not like I was with Mick Jones from the Clash but close enough. Sadly Maggie passed away a few years ago. I was greatly saddened by the turn of events.

The Roches are no more.

Terre played in Hoboken a couple of times at Jim Mastro’s 501 Social Club, but I could never get it together. There is always a chance that I will get it together should Terre come around again. Suzzy also plays shows with her daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche and that is always a possibility.

Ocean Boyfriend from the song The Troubles. Just a refrain that they sing at the end of that song. I always thought Ocean Boyfriend could be a good name for a band…

Meanwhile at the fruit stand it is as quiet as a tomb. No one around, few friendly faces these days. Marcus, while not such a friendly face but handsome nonetheless, is gone. Jimmy Chile has been reassigned to the major fruit stand.

Brian, who is also handsome as well as friendly, is leaving tomorrow since he was filling in for the housekeeper who went on vacation to Montenegro and is coming back on Monday. A few weeks ago I mentioned to Jimmy Chile that I was so bored I was willing to perform fellatio on Brian just to do something different. Jimmy laughed.

Wednesday. Woke up with the alarm after checking the alarm clock an hour before. I took my time, rather than waiting on the platform for the next train to arrive after the crowded train left. I did not take into account that there are people I sort of compete with when the train cars open, so waiting awkwardly for a few minutes does not seem so bad after all.

I bought a few ankle socks a few weeks ago which have served me well until this morning. The left sock decided to slink down into the sneaker, making things uncomfortable. It was manageable and I only just changed into a backup pair of socks that I had put into my bag only yesterday. So now I need a new pair of backup socks for the bag.

Yancy was at the fruit stand before me which was unsettling. I did not think he would be around this morning but there he was. Not much to say, he told me last week to organize my part of a shared file cabinet and I did but he insisted that it could be better and he was right. But I am the only one who uses it, I sit next to this file cabinet at least 7 hours a day. I appeased him though. He went off to finish clearing our Marcus and Jimmy Chile’s spaces a few floors down.

An hour or so later he was headed back to the major fruit stand blocks away. I was not sure what to have for lunch, and opted for a salad. My plan on saving money went out the window since the salad was about $18.00. It is not just lettuce; there are other ingredients. And it was good and healthier than a slice of pizza or a burger from Wendy’s.

It was a slow day overall and I got a few crossword puzzles done. Hard crossword puzzles. I was doing medium level puzzles and ran the gamut on those and thought I would try the harder stuff. Where it used to take me about 15 minutes for the medium puzzles, now it takes about 30 minutes to complete the higher level. I’d like to think it staves off Alzheimer’s but only time will tell.

We did have a Latin pop singer at the fruit stand today. I heard of them but that was only because if I was looking up another artist with the same first name, this pop singer would be presented in the list. They were nice enough to shake my hand when they arrived, then they were escorted into the area where they were interviewed and I never saw them again.

Mike also made an appearance at the fruit stand. I did ask him to call when he was in the neighborhood but he didn’t and just showed up. It’s a good thing that it didn’t matter. We walked to the Path train a little bit later and he was off to Jersey City and I waited for the Hoboken train, one of a handful of riders that were not captivated by the devices they hold in their hands.

I know, those devices aren’t going away and a lot of people do not have imaginations so they need something to occupy their thoughts. I am the one that has to adapt.