Monthly Archives: July 2008

Magic

Well I just got back from Xanadu and yes it was a lot of fun. So silly, great songs, so tongue in cheek and a classic send up of a crap movie, which was acknowledged in the play. Bill and I tried to watch the original movie from 1980 but couldn’t get past the first 10 minutes. Perhaps we can watch it later.

It’s a nice, funny musical for families as well as the large percentage of gay men in the audience. And a mention that most of the jokes would only be understood by gay men in their 40’s which of course is our demographic.

As well as the demographic of the contingent of bears seated right behind us on the stage. I got on stage tickets, in my usual fashion of not doing things the ordinary way, I do extra ordinary mostly. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. This afternoon it worked out perfectly.

I got to the theater after an average Sunday morning of bagels and newspapers. Last night was quiet. Juan was supposed to come over at 10:30 to hang, but didn’t call until 11:30 and by that time I was headed to sleep. I wanted to be rested and fully aware for the show, so it’s just as well that Juan didn’t come over.

I watched a travel documentary on The New Europe, with Michael Palin, meaning Michael Palin was on the dvd, not on the couch watching the documentary with me. Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the dvd making it unwatchable. I watched the third episode of the season from Weeds but distracted by the internet.

I watched some of Grindhouse which was good but bad. Tarantino and Rodriquez went out of their way to make the movie look like it was showing on 42nd street in the 1970’s. Scratches on the print, bad editing, skipped frames.

I only watched part of Planet Terror and Rose McGowan was good but Freddy Rodriquez was excellent. Never saw him act like that before. I found it sexy. Woof. Really ferocious zombies.

But it was late and I needed to sleep and so I did. Texted Julio again and got no response. He claimed he hadn’t gotten any texts from me, and that Stine checked the door to see if there were bagels awaiting.

I told him I thought Stine was pissed with me because of the photos and told Julio that. He called me paranoid and I sort of agreed with him, but decided to go with the more fanciful term, ‘writer’s imagination’.

I hopped on a bus around 1:30, anticipating the traffic that I had in June when I went to a Sunday matinée of Sunday in the Park with George with the Field of Gar contingent. But it was smooth sailing. I got to the theater 20 minutes early but I didn’t mind.

I saw Tony Roberts show up. He went unnoticed by the crowd as he walked through the stage door. Bill then showed up early, looking handsome and crisp and his usual effervescent self which is a nearly perfect compliment to my snarky ennui.

I told Bill about Tony Roberts and Bill remembers him from The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, I mainly remember him from Woody Allen movies. I’m sure we’ve seen him in other things, but nothing comes to mind.

It was great watching the show on stage, though you can’t see what’s going on since the cast is playing to the house and we seated behind the action. And there’s a lot of action and dancing. Very flirty cast, Bill had his chest rubbed by someone’s hands and then had a paint roller applied to his scalp.

He of course, loved it. No playbills until after the show and cellphones off of course, but some people still have to be reminded. We were given glow sticks to wave at the end of the show for the big number and we were also encouraged to dance which didn’t take much encouragement.

We danced as if no one was looking, in front of a full house.

After that, a pleasant stroll through midtown to the Path, me smoking a Padron and dropping off the damaged Netflix dvd at the big ass Post Office. Though my ass isn’t that big, they took my mail anyhow.

Last night’s moon

The view from where we sat, after the show

Outside the theater, taken by a stranger.

Big computer screen outside bus terminal needs reseting.
The giant Ctrl/Alt/Delete keys are just out of frame.

And now, the Larch.

Night Shift

Last night was a mellow Fourth of July. No complaints. It was raining and very muggy out. No need to go to the river to see the fireworks since you couldn’t really see them anyhow. You could see different colored clouds and fog flashing.

From the 5th floor perch where I sit you could see North Bergen and Jersey City blowing up. No interest really. Bill phoned and though he and his mother were about 100 yards from the East River, they wound up watching it on TV.

Before Bill went over to Stuyvesant Town, we watched Galaxy Quest, which Bill had never seen before. That’s the Star Trek spoof with Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. It’s really a funny movie and a wonderful send up of the Enterprise enterprise. After that we started to watch Psycho.

I hoped Bill had never seen it before, but he did. I looked out the window and a few miles away I could see a plume of smoke so we watched the local news which didn’t have any information on it. The plume eventually dissipated .Bill was busy, shredding boxes of documents and papers that he had accumulated over the years and threatened to collapse ala the Collyer Brothers from way back in the day.

Juan came over last night and we watched what else but Walk Hard. Juan had never seen it before, and for me it was the third time in two days. I made some summer cocktails which were basically vodka and diet Sierra Mist with a slice of lemon for a summertime qualification.

It seems I can’t make a proper drink anymore these days, and I should leave drink making to a professional. The second cocktail proved to be the last as it kicked my ass as well as Juan’s. I made us each a hot dog on the George Foreman grill which allowed me to regain single vision, able to read with both eyes open.

Fittingly we watched Weeds after Walk Hard. Juan hadn’t seen the latest episodes and I had only seen two out of three. Still watched two out of three because midway through the second episode, I was fading fast. Juan walked back home and I went to bed. Had a good night’s sleep, woke up around 8:30 which was quite nice.

Texted Julio about bagels but didn’t receive a response. Stine made it a point to tell me the other night not to post her picture anymore, she was very uncomfortable about it. So no more pictures of Stine then. I think that was prompted by the cd I gave her of all the photos of Alexander that I had taken. That’s too bad, but I don’t want to make waves so I’ll respect her wishes.

Today’s weather is reminiscent of the 1977 Fourth of July which was bound to be a letdown after the previous year’s bicentennial celebration. I remember going to the Garden State Plaza, which was still an outdoor mall then and running around in the rain with my friends through Sam Goody’s and Bamberger’s.

Eventually I broke off on my own for a little while doing some exploring from the tearooms of Mars to the surfaces of Uranus. I’m amazed at how I can remember these things.

Now where did I put my keys?

This afternoon I wandered around Hoboken, bought a used cd of Walk Hard which is just as much fun as the movie and I’ll try never to mention Walk Hard again. I just loaned the dvd to Rand and Lisa and they’d never seen it before.

I had a nice stroll up Washington Street with them, they ran into stores while I hung outside smoking a Padron 5000. Quite nice and the humidity keeps the cigar fresh. Almost had a Mojito with the two of them, but Bill had just came home and I wanted to see how he was doing. He’s fine.

A Cardinal 50 feet from my window

Hoboken Holiday weekend