November | 2007 | johnozed

It feels like winter. It’s cold and a little bit of sleeting going on. Well at least it was going on when I went out a few hours ago. Wandered around Hoboken under gray skies. Typical November Sunday afternoon. Ran into Julio this morning as I went out to pick up some of Harpy’s least favorite food. He was running out for Stine, who being pregnant had a hankering for a sausage and egg sandwich that she just saw on a commercial for Dunkin Donuts and Julio being her husband and the father of her child had to get it together and feed his woman. He asked and I told him all about last night, who was there, who asked for him, stuff like that.

It was fun to see Andrea Harbison. She’s great and still as sexy as ever, even after three kids, four if you count Scott her ex husband. She has the patience of a saint though, that’s for sure. Scott is/was definitely a handful. Nice guy, but one or two beers and it’s so long Scott, hello misadventure. She put up with it for as long as she could and I along with other people were happy for her when she put her foot down and walked out the door. It had been a long time coming.

Steve Fallon’s partner was there as well, Arnold LaSpina. He’s a cutie and it’s heartwarming to see both him and Steve still together, to the point now where if you see one of the two, you have to ask where the other one is. I remember one time years ago, living in Weehawken, I was going to meet Bill at the Lure in the meatpacking district for a suit and tie party, sponsored by Foot Friends, a foot fetish group. Annemarie was in town and drove my well suited ass to the Path train. I got in a car, one other guy in the car with me.

I didn’t pay him much attention nor did he pay attention to me. He got off at 9th Street, I rode to 14th Street. I get to the club and there is Arnold. It was him who was in the Path car with me. He didn’t recognize me in my suit and tie, and I didn’t recognize him since he moved away from Hoboken a few years before. He found out about my suit fetish and I found out about his foot fetish.
I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Arnold last night, but Chaz got his email which I could get from him later this week.

Another friend at McSwells last night was Ally. Ally is a real sweetheart, living in Hoboken. I run into him around public transportation. Either by a bus stop, or on a bus or by the Path train. He’s a good friend of Steve and Arnold and goes to visit them fairly often. I usually hear about the latest endeavors from Ally. And it’s always a treat to see him.

Brother Frank called this afternoon. He was sorry he couldn’t make it but it would have been a pain in the ass for him to come down, and then there were a lot of people there he’d have to talk to which would make anyone exhausted and he’d definitely stress out trying to find parking which is oh so rare in Hoboken this time of year.

Saturday, definitely out of the ordinary. Started out ordinary. Slept really well. Watched TV last night, of course since I hardly ever go out anymore. Not that I watched much of anything of importance. Do I ever? That’s a good question. I think occasionally in the wasteland called television, I find an oasis from time to time. Bill came home as I was watching Led Zeppelin live at the Royal Albert Hall in like 1969, a period where I don’t really care for Led Zeppelin wise. Bill thought it was the Who or Nirvana, might have even guessed the Stones, but the long hair on Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had him stumped. Just as well since Zeppelin are relatively unknown to him. Pink Floyd would definitely leave him in the dark since they were even more faceless than Led Zeppelin.

I stayed up until around 1AM, watched the Simpsons and Scrubs before turning in. Slept really well. Woke up around 8:30, Bill was running off to the Bronx to get some stuff from his cousin’s house. She sold it and Bill has to get his crap out of there, or at least throw it out. I woke up, made some coffee, showered and even shaved. I wanted to look good for the afternoon. A nice breakfast followed. Read the papers and did some laundry. Then it was just a small matter to kill some time before I went over to the Hoboken Historical Museum. It’s been a day I had been looking forward to since the summer. My brother Frank was supposed to come by but he was fatigued.

You see today at the Hoboken Historical Museum, it was all about McSwells, and XXXXX was coming to town. I have to admit, I really love and admire XXXXX. He was always very supportive of not just me but a lot of other people in Hoboken and around the country. New and upcoming bands from the eighties from this country and beyond. I hadn’t seen XXXXX since about tens years ago. He was a great boss who could have fired me a few times but always gave me a second, third and occasional fourth chance. I walked up Hudson Street towards the museum and saw XXXXX with Chaz Charas, Todd Abramson and Steve Shelley as well as Geri Fallo headed in that direction.

I called out XXXXX and XXXXX turned around and we greeted each other with a hug and a kiss. He mentioned the blog actually, specifically mentioning the entry where I wrote about if you saw XXXXX at McSwells smoking a Newport and drinking a Rolling Rock, it meant it was going to be a long night. He mentioned the circumstances that that would happen, and I was glad I didn’t write about that. He wasn’t the only one. I know that I participated as well and that’s all I have to say about that particular subject. It was all a lot of fun.

The presentation was funny, XXXXX was talking so fast he was losing his breath. Not one for public speaking, not our XXXXX. But he was entertaining nonetheless. The introduction was lifted from Wikipedia which is where XXXXX was getting his speech from. So that was scuttled and he had to wing it. He did an admirable job, he explained that McSwells was so successful was because of the bands that were able to play there cheaply, since they weren’t playing in Manhattan. Also the club was a favorite for the music press who could focus on the music since there were very few distractions. But ultimately a good part of the success was because of the staff, some of whom, myself included, were in attendance.

Todd Abramson also had a few remarks about when he and XXXXX were running the show, before XXXXX walked away from it. It was an overwhelming hassle dealing with the task of running a club six night’s a week. I’ve butted heads with Todd a few times, but basically he’s a good egg. XXXXX had a loyal team supporting him and that is hard to find nowadays. Back then it was organic, it seemed to spring up all around him.

After the museum a few of us made it down to McSwells, Chaz and I had pints, everyone spread out in the restaurant. It seemed like old times. XXXXX made a point to say that it was important to still support McSwells, that it’s a good thing to have. I had to agree and decided that though I won’t be going there like I used to, at one point even having my mail delivered there, but a pop in for a pint every now and then wouldn’t be so bad.

Tonight, some bitch was the richest man in Hoboken.

Here’s some pics from the past few days. I hope Annemarie gets her computer fixed.

The Watcher