Monthly Archives: February 2008

My Father’s Gun

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It’s Monday, not dreary. Weather nice. Just got back about an hour ago from Manhattan. It was an interesting couple of days these past few. Last night, sitting with Julio and Stine in a midtown Bistro, I was feeling so guilty about leaving Bill and his family. They were fine, nothing that being there would do for anyone, but I just felt so bad. It was ok on their end, but on my end I just felt terrible. Speaking with Annemarie later on, she correctly identified that the cause of guilt (which was more like depression) was due to the fact that I was at a wake most of the day.

Identifying the source of the problem made a difference and I was able to wonder why Josh Brolin looks like he has a dwarf’s head. Annemarie disagreed but I thought he looks freakish. Funny that he didn’t look that freakish in No Country for Old Men, he looked great in that, but last night during the Academy Awards, in that tuxedo he looked weird. Yes I did watch the Academy Awards last night. I enjoyed it. I thought that since Joel and Ethan Coen won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay the Best Director award would be up for grabs. I was pulling for Paul Thomas Anderson or Julian Schnabel but the award went to the Coen brothers.

There Will Be Blood won Best Cinematography, and Best Actor justifiably went to Daniel Day Lewis. He was great in that movie. Sweeney Todd won for Best Art Direction. This year I saw two of the five nominations for Best Picture, No Country and …Blood. Another happy note so to speak was the fact that the song from that charming little Irish film, Once won Best Original Song and the girl half of the duo was able to come back after being cut off by the orchestra and give an inspiring acceptance speech about following your dreams. I’m fairly certain that Alicia Keys made a similar speech years ago on some other awards program, but I guess it’s all in the delivery, or in this case, accent.

Both Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have accents, but Glen Hansard has a brogue, Markéta Irglová has a winsome Czech accent and Alicia Keys sounds straight out of Hell’s Kitchen. Which is fine, but doesn’t inspire me to do much of anything except look up diction classes online. And their song, Falling Slowly is really a sweet song. I was surprised my sister hadn’t seen it, considering it’s right up her alley. Jon Stewart was mainly funny and there were lot’s of montages which could be hold overs from the plans to broadcast from the writer’s strike.

The funeral for Bill’s dad was today. It was a nice service. Once again, Bill showed to me that he communicates his emotions when playing the piano. He played a little piece midway through a eulogy he was doing and his playing got his point across perfectly. It was a good day for a funeral, beautiful day, sunshine, not windy. An honor guard played Taps and the flag was presented to Bill’s mom. Bill’s friend, and mine, Margaret flew up from Atlanta and also had a few words at the church. Margaret is a Reverend Doctor in Theology and her words were touching. She had been speaking to Bill over the weekend, and she told Bill and myself, separately that we’re family, meaning that I am part of Bill’s family and he’s part of mine. It’s true and I never realized it before.

Sometimes things are so obvious, so right in front of your face and you can’t see it.

Somedays

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Well obviously I didn’t write last night, nothing to write about really. Today there are somethings to write about, but first last night. What did I do? I watched TV. Watched Law and Hor d’oeuvres more than likely. Watched a documentary about Funk, James Brown, Temptations, Stevie Wonder and George Clinton. That was fun, a wonderful distraction from the boredom of day to day life. Also watched Saturday Night Live which was a lot of fun, having been off the air for the past three months. Tina Fay was the very funny guest host and Carrie Underwood was ok, not my cuppa, but she wasn’t terrible.

Julio stopped by earlier in the evening, with a new used TV for me. Big 24 inch screen, not HD but big screen, good sound and I’m happy with it. It also gave me a chance to hang out with Julio who lately I only see maybe once a month. I was also able to give him the onesie I got for the baby due on April. It’s a nice blue one piece that says ‘I’m Super’ and has a cape for the 0 to 3 month old set. We discussed the Viewing and the Wake this afternoon. Mainly, what’s the difference between a viewing and a wake? I had no clear idea, just that I figured the Viewing would be religious themed and the Wake a more social thing, which in fact it turned out to be.

I went to bed after SNL and woke up around 8:00 this morning. Did my thing, which for the first time in days, included shaving and my legs were silky smooth afterwards. I picked out what I was going to wear today, my charcoal gray double breasted pinstriped Givenchy suit with a French cuff shirt and a somber black tie. I did run out this morning to get the Sunday morning sundries, including bagels and the newspaper for the denizens of 3R, Julio and Stine. A nice breakfast, good coffee and the newspapers filled my morning and at around 12:00 I knew I had to get moving, not wanting to be late for the wake.

I hopped on a bus and surprisingly people stepped aside and let me on the bus first, with an ‘After you, Sir’. I guess I projected a look of authority, either that, or I was that bangin’. In any event, I sat towards the back of the bus, and started reading The Diving Bell and The Butterfly which I probably could have finished with another hour on the bus. But it wasn’t to be. The book, by the way has a few chuckles in it. My sister Annemarie and her husband Rex saw the film yesterday and they liked it. I wonder if Annemarie is like me, once I get home, I log on and try to get as much info as possible. I told her that some of the music is on a loop which sounds a bit ambient and you can play it for hours without tiring of it, which is what I’ve been doing on and off lately.

I lucked out when I got tot he city, sidestepping all the tourist as I made a beeline down 42nd street from the bus terminal to Grand Central. An express train arrived soon after and I found myself on the upper east side a half hour early. I walked over to 1010 Park Ave, the Park Avenue Christian Church and hung outside having a smoke. Bill came out and had to move his Zip car. His mother was inside with his cousin Elsie. Bill’s friend Margaret was there as well, giving me a big hug and telling em she loves me very much, for what I’ve been doing for Bill as well as for being myself. As if there was someone else I could be. There isn’t. I tried.

The Viewing was religious as I thought it would be and I rebuffed all opportunities to sing hymns in English and Spanish, avoiding a chance to mangle a tune in two languages. Various people from Bill’s past showed up, hugs and well wishes abounding. Bill and his friend Kirk and Tom accompanied Bill as he played a song on the piano, Kirk on flute, Tom on drums. I think that was when it hit Bill. He became quite emotional. Perhaps music speaks best for Bill rather than words. It was beautiful and I wasn’t sure if I should have applauded.

Julio and Stine showed up and I introduced them to everyone I knew during the Wake. It all ended after that, Bill needed to get the Zip car to drive his mother back home, and I decided to head back with Julio and Stine. Stine had some friends coming in from Denmark and we all walked over to the Paramount Hotel to see if they checked in. They hadn’t so we went to a French bistro around the block where we all had something to eat. Stine’s friend, Stine showed up with here husband and they sat and talked with us, Stine and Stine speaking that crazy Danish talk. I felt like a fifth wheel so I made my exit, bidding all a good night. Lucked out, there was a bus waiting and I was home in 20 minutes, where I am right now.