Monthly Archives: February 2008

The Tide Is High

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Well here I am again, sitting in front of the computer screen, writing yet another entry in the blog. Things seem low key, more low key than the usual weekend ennui. Spoke with Bill a few times last night while he and his mother and his cousin were going from St Albans to Stuyvesant Town with a stop at Bill’s office so he could get some paperwork. He’s basically in the zone, where you don’t think, you just do, sort of like an out of body experience, but I guess it’s actually shock. He says he’s doing ok, a few crying jags here and there. I asked him a few times if he needed anything but he said he was fine.

Talked with my siblings last night to tell them the news, perhaps they could send a card, I doubt if Brian and Frank will make it into the city for the wake. Also talked with Rand who expressed his condolences. He’s a good one to talk to in times like these. Not that he has any comforting words, but he has a good presence. Everyone was sympathetic to Bill’s plight. It’s been coming for a while, and still it is a shock. I watched some of Company on PBS, the Sondheim show. My brother Frank and I had planned to catch it at some point, but it didn’t win any Tony’s last year and it closed very soon after, then there was Frank’s stroke.

I was recording Company so I switched over to Law and Hors D’ouvres, but I really wasn’t paying attention to it. I did find out that Jesse L. Martin is leaving the cast and is starring in a Marvin Gaye biopic. Went to bed around 11:30 but I didn’t turn on the heat and it was 50 degrees in the bedroom so I watched Scrubs until I thought it was warm enough. Woke up and got myself ready and headed out into the 22 degree morning. Uneventful all around. Once again I went to Smiler’s on Fifth Avenue and once again West Indian Tony asked how my boy Bill was doin’. I told him about Bill’s dad passed away the night before and he threw out some stuff about god giving and taking or something like that.

I got my sandwich and was soon at my desk, rescheduling the afternoon’s dental appointment. That was easy. Spoke with Bill a few times. Money woes with regards to the funeral. The funeral company wants the money up front, so Bill is scrambling since he just paid some bills. I’m pretty tight myself so I couldn’t afford to give him anything. In a week or so it’s no problem, but right now on February 21, it’s a problem. And since he is a part time employee he doesn’t get any bereavement pay, so he was at his desk this afternoon and plans to be there again tomorrow. Bill knew there are no benefits being part time, and being part time allows Bill to go to auditions and whatnot.

So he knew the situation. Hopefully his church could loan him some dosh. I took the day off so I could run errands for Bill while he works. Supposed to be a crappy day, snow, sleet, crap like that and half the office was going to be out anyhow. Since the funeral is Monday I’ll be out that day as well. I need to call my cousin Neil to tell him that Bill and I will be unable to attend his wedding. With all the money problems Bill is going through we can’t afford it. That sucks, but I’m sure Neil would understand. That’s about it for now.

This jerk cut in front of me on line at the bus terminal, so I stole his soul. I was stunned by his ignorance and didn’t do anything about it.
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Song For Guy

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Well it’s Wednesday, which feels like a Tuesday which happened last month following Martin Luther King’s birthday holiday. Last night, no big deal, watched Keith Olbermann instead of Daily Show which was repeats, same for Colbert Report I guessed. Couldn’t say I watched Olbermann, more like listened to him and not fully at that. He is right on a lot of the time, but there is something in the timbre of his voice that is annoying. After that, more Soul documentaries, this time on Gospel being introduced in the Pop market, specifically Sam Cooke.

It was a repeat which I didn’t realize until I heard Mavis Staples mentioning that people were taking bets to see if Mavis was a boy or a girl. She’s a woman. I remember the first time I saw the Staple Singers on the American Music Awards. I didn’t know who they were, but I liked them and their song, I’ll Take You There. I enjoyed Pops Staples voice a lot, such a simple way of singing, yet backed with an authority that I had never heard before.

After that I watched The Olivia Show, i.e., Law and Order Special Victims Unit. It was good, with Jared Harris as the arch-villain, a homicidal artist doing several life sentences with followers on the outside willing to do his bidding, ala Charles Manson. Jared Harris played a decent Andy Warhol in the movie, I Shot Andy Warhol, not as good as Bowie in Basquiat though. Don’t want the son of the late Richard Harris to get a swelled head.

Then I went to bed after talking with Bill on the phone. Woke up, did my thing and was on the second bus since I was too late for the first. The second bus isn’t as comfortable as the first and it really makes a difference. Read the New Yorker, determined not to fall behind, though I have plenty of other things to read and distract me from the magazine. More errands to run around midtown for, more chores in the office. It wasn’t bad, I enjoy being busy.

Also finagled an early exit since some items needed to be taken to the post office for special deliveries. I had talked with Bill, we had to meet up, I needed to get money from him, so I called him from outside his building as I stood having a Padron. He came down, and we talked for a few minutes.

I had been meaning to ask him how his father was doing and Bill told me his plans to take his mother out to St. Albans to see his father this weekend. It was cold so Bill went back inside and I continued on my way to the bus terminal. Got to Hoboken and had to get coffee. There was that girl again, all chatty and nice. She mentioned she lived on my block so I decided to give her a break. I told her that the first time we met she was a bit rude and she apologized profusely blushing deep red.

Her excuse was that she had been working a 16 hour shift since there was quite a turnover in the coffee shop around that time. I asked her name, she said Stephanie and I introduced myself, shaking her hand and telling her that it was a fresh start. She kept apologizing and I reassured her that it was alright now. Also ran into that sweetheart Allie Politowski on the street, and it’s always good to see Allie.

Picked up dry cleaning, brought it home and found that the trousers I asked to have the cuffs removed, still cuffed. I turned around and brought the suit back, leaving the cell phone home, thinking I was going to be gone for just a couple of minutes. Also had to run to the supermarket where I waited on an awfully long line. Came back with the cell phone ringing next to the computer.

It was Bill, he didn’t sound so good. His father passed away an hour ago. So with that I need to cancel my dental appointment at the NYU Dental School, and I don’t think I’ll be posting the next couple of days. I’m sure you’ll understand. Peace.

added 11:05PM
Bill’s home with his mom and his cousin, Elsie. They went out to St Albans and made the necessary arrangements. They’re in grief mode, Bill on automatic pilot, making all the decisions.