Monthly Archives: April 2008

Eat At Home

It’s Sunday again. Nothing I could do about it. Presently writing while a documentary about Marijuana on the History Channel plays on. Perhaps they’re playing it because it is 4.20. I didn’t put that together until my sister told me about her latest hiking experience with a friend. Being that it was 4.20 there were celebrants congregating in the forest. Unfortunately they were being spied upon and hassled by the Coast Guard. Yes the Coast Guard flying overhead being wasteful with the fuel. Bunch of earthquakes going on underwater off the coast of Oregon and they’re hassling stoners in the woods.

Last night I met up with Roda and he and I went to see the play that Bill is currently stage managing, ‘From a Long Last Poem before Dying’. It was actually pretty good. Good acting and a decent script. Believable characters mainly. The protagonists are of the older crowd, getting up in years and dealing with terminal diseases. Still functioning, not bedridden. I could easily see Bill in one of two roles, though one of the roles was for a guitar player, but since Bill doesn’t play guitar that left it down to one. It was a lot more realistic than the last Bill I saw Bill in. Which I wrote about here, and where the author of the play found it and sent the link for my review, which by the way, was not favorable.

I forget to mention that the other day at work I saw Neil Simon walking into my building. Looking good and as well as could be expected for his age, which is 81. I guess the blonde woman with him was his wife Elaine Joyce. It’s actually the second time I’ve seen him. I think he’s actually stalking me.

This afternoon I watched Smithereens on cable. I hadn’t seen that in 26 years. I saw it a few times when it came out. Ultimately a downbeat movie, girl from NJ being rather obnoxious trying to catch a break in the downtown scene. It was strange to see all these places in Manhattan that aren’t there anymore. I guess it was right at the end of the decline and right before the Disneyfication of the city. It was certainly grimy then, and that was it’s charm. That’s when I wanted to live there, though soon after that found Hoboken to be a lot more comfortable and affordable.

It does fleetingly feature Chris Noth in drag as a prostitute. Very sad ending with Wren, the female protagonist, abandoned and homeless walking underneath the West Side Highway being offered a ride by a sleaze in a Chevy convertible. It ends in a freeze frame so it could go either way for annoying yet sad, Wren. Oops, that was a spoiler. It’s been 26 years since it came out and if you haven’t seen it, oh well.

Also watched a bit of Hannah and Her Sisters after that. That flew by. Still a great movie, having written about it before here I won’t do it again, though the car chase at the end is hilarious and nail biting! Phone call with Julio. Stine is quite hormonal and has been driving him crazy, hence a 35 minute phone call. Bill’s coming home tonight and Juan maybe stopping over before heading back to school. That’s about it.

Roda

Bill in his element

Love Is Like Oxygen

A beautiful Saturday. For the third day in a row actually. Today feels like spring, definitely. Last night I watched the first DVD from Saturday Night Live’s musical guests. Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, The Blue Brothers, Grateful Dead, Bill Joel, Carly Simon, Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger et al. It was ok. Had it on for the music more than the video though seeing Patti Smith so young with Ivan Kral and Richard Sohl still alive and in the band. Ivan is still alive, Richard passed away.

TV was on the menu again last night, the usual suspects. I neglected to mention how great it was to see Michelle Obama on the Colbert Report the other night. She was well poised and funny. I wouldn’t mind having her as a First Lady. It would definitely be an improvement over who we have now. Watched Futurama which is almost always great and then Bill Maher who had Cornell West on, as well as politician and writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, blogger Markos Moulitsas from the Daily Kos. Kos was great and got his point across better than Cornell West, at least what he said struck a chord in me. But right now I forget what it was. I am a fan of Cornell West, and plan to check out his books sometime. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, while easy on the eyes was so soft spoken you can barely hear her.

Yesterday at work I had a very interesting chat with Vivek and Lydia about religion. Lydia, from Estonia, really didn’t have religion in her life. Vivek is Hindu and I covered the Atheist angle. It was due to the Pope being in town. Spoke to Billie in DC. He has bronchitis as well as bad allergies and with his compromised immune system, he’s not having an easy time of it. He was also fed up with the mess of things the Pope made while he was in Washington DC..That darn Pope pissing off people where she goes. At least the six victims of sexual abuse by pedophile priests probably weren’t pissed and the old man in a gown. Same jerk who said that homosexual couples that want to adopt children are intrinsically evil.

After Bill Maher I tuned in to VH1 Classics which had a block of Bruce Springsteen videos on honor of Danny Federici, recently deceased keyboardist/accordionist from the E Street Band. About 2 hours actually of mainly live videos going as far back as 1975. That’s when I would have loved to have seen him. Frank and Elaine as well as Annemarie and Brian were going to see him constantly it seemed. I was too young to go, especially since they wanted to get their freak on and not watch their 13 year old brother.

Bruce was so skinny then, and quite the performer with a four hour show each night. I felt sad at Danny Federici’s passing, though not as much as Harpy and my family. I think the album that he features prominently on is The Wild and the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. That’s the album I heard the most when growing up in 13 Riverview. Four of my favorite Bruce songs are on that. Sandy (Fourth of July, Asbury Park), Kitty’s Back, Incident on 57th Street and Rosalita. One of these days I’ll get the rest of the album. Here’s a clip of Danny Federici’s last appearance with the E Street Band last month.