Monthly Archives: June 2008

His Wife, Refused

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Well I took today off from work, yet every now and then I’m checking email and voicemail. I gave them enough notice, that I was taking today off and I haven’t heard from everyone so I’m hoping no news is good news. That’s the work front. Here in Hoboken today, it’s bright and sunny with a cool breeze every now and then. I’ve been puttering around the apartment, getting things ready to sell.

I just came up from the basement where I found that Julio was right. He mentioned previously that a lot of my things are ruined from water and the damp. As I was going through some boxes I’ve noticed notebooks with my writings faded or washed away or covered in black mold. Records, books, photographs all ruined. I’m disappointed and regretful but there’s nothing I could do about it now.

Books that were autographed by Andy Warhol have now wound up in the garbage can as well as a book autographed by Brian Eno. It was the price I paid, living on the top floor of a five story walk up and when I moved in that rainy weekend 6 years ago, I moved enough things up those stairs along with Bill, William and Chaz, and was so exhausted that I started leaving things in the basement, not taking into consideration that nature would have it’s way.

And nature sure did have it’s way. I hadn’t seen these books or records in years and figured they might have been up here somewhere, but they weren’t. So it’s Hello Bin from David Bowie books, Beatle books, Warhol autographs, all gone forever. Disappointed in it all, not crying though. It’s my own fault. Procrastinate for 6 years and something was bound to happen.

Let this be a lesson to you. Or me.

In any event I’m still putting out some decent items tomorrow and if they don’t sell, well I don’t think I’ll be lugging those up to the fifth floor. Either they make it to the curb, or placed in the basement, this time not on the floor though. At least I know I’ve met Andy Warhol and Brian Eno so the books, while they would have been nice to keep, are just material things and easily discarded. I would have more than likely tried to sell them on eBay somewhere down the line.

They should make it to the trash tonight instead. The Metal Box PiL collectible is now rusted and warped, and Chris Stamey stares at me from the garbage can with his cold, dead eyes. I called up Julio and asked if he had any heavy duty garbage bags. He asked why and I told him that he was right about my things being ruined. He of course, maintained the ‘I told you so’ stance, asking what did I expect after leaving my shit down there for 6 years?

I told him I had hope. He asked if I was an atheist, and if so what the hell was I doing ‘hoping’, equating a belief in hope with a belief in a deity. Whats done is done. I saw Stine and Alexander outside and had a nice little chat. No pictures today. Maybe tomorrow. All I can do is laugh about the destroyed books and records as I have no one to blame but myself.

Last night Bill and I watched an entertaining biography on Elton John: Me, Myself and I. It was pretty funny and well done. I showed Bill my Elton John scrapbook from the 1970’s, which contained the ticket stub for my first concert. Madison Square Garden, Elton John August 12, 1976 $9.50. I don’t know why I have this 30 year old scrapbook. I was definitely into Elton John, that’s for sure.

I bet that Chaz has several scrapbooks about T Rex from his youth, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he is constantly updating it.

Showtime tomorrow! Have to put up some signs for the gate sale later.

Who Has Seen the Wind?

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Oh what a weird bus ride home. First off, the bus was crawling back to Hoboken through the Lincoln Tunnel. I thought we were going to breakdown. It was like the driver had the emergency brake on. There was also a priest on the bus and I should have sat next to him, if only I had a Christopher Hitchens/Sam Harris/Richard Dawkins book on me. They wrote books in the past year or so in favor of atheism. I could have engaged the priest in a discussion on the existence of god.

It might have been fun, but no, I took an empty seat behind a cat lady with one of her cats, a white cat with hair all over the place. The cat or the cat lady was heavily medicated, you can smell it. Oh it was a nasty pharmaceutical odor. It started to turn my stomach, enough that I almost got off the bus at the first opportunity.

I have nothing against cat people or people on medications, this was just a foul odor. I’m glad I’m not allergic to cats since there was cat hair all over the seats. And there was another cat person on the bus but she had her cat in a carrier, whereas cat lady had her white cat in a duffel bag that she alternately murmured to and cursed at. I did get off the bus at the usual stop.

Work once again was dreadfully slow. Just three of us in the office out of eight. Greg Stevens one of the three, left the office at 12:00 to head out to the Hamptons. Then Marty Allen left at 3:00, leaving me solo. I stayed until 4:30. I’m taking off tomorrow to get my crap ready for the gate sale on Saturday. Bought some dot stickers so I could price things properly.

Some things were gifts from friends and family that I have absolutely no use for, and I could use the money. I would rather sell these items rather than lugging them back up five flights of stairs. If you’re in the neighborhood, I’ll be out from 10:00-4:00. In theory that is. If nothing is happening and it gets too hot then I might just quit early and call it a day. Who knows? Maybe I’ll sell everything really quick. That would be nice.

I just got an invitation to a wedding party in Walton NY. My friend Lois just married her guy, Fred. They’ve been going out for more than twenty years, so I guess the time is right. The party is August 2, which may be doable, but I am also trying to finagle an invitation to go down the Jersey Shore and stay with my brother Frank and his family. I was invited last year and couldn’t go, so this year might be possible. I’ll find out more this weekend when I see the Garfield contingent on Sunday.

I can still smell the meds from the bus ride. I also got the latest Mojo Magazine with the Sex Pistols on the cover, looking their age, fifty something and Uncut Magazine with CSNY on the cover not looking their age with a snapshot from 1969. I guess if it was a shot of CSNY today, people might get confused and think they were picking up an issue from AARP. I really shouldn’t talk. In five years I’ll be eligible for a subscription to AARP.

Just got back from an errand. Went to the library and picked up ‘We All Shine On: The Stories Behind Every John Lennon song from 1970-1980’ by Paul Du Noyer, a Mojo/Uncut writer. Also picked up ‘Tweaked’ by Nic Sheff, the son of David Sheff, who wrote the last book I read, ‘Beautiful Boy’ about his son’s methamphetamine addiction. This is the son’s side of the story. And 2 slices of pizza at $3.00 per slice. It’s that price all over Hoboken, blaming the cost of shipping flour.

There’s no escape.