Well I hope you are all having an enjoyable 4th of July. Independence Day. It’s been a lovely day here in the Hoboken area. Sun is shining brightly and there’s a nice breeze.

Some streets are closed in Hoboken since the fireworks will be on the Hudson River and the city of Hoboken is expecting huge crowds. At 8:00 it will be very difficult for cars to drive into Hoboken.

I don’t know how the other waterfront towns are dealing with it, but Hoboken does have it’s sometimes exaggerated self-importance.

I went for a ride today, solo. Rode into Manhattan and checked out Jenny Lewis who was opening for Conor Oberst. It was crowded but not like it was for the Feelies and Sonic Youth show last year.

I did see Meghan Taylor for a few minutes. She was in the guest area with her super girls, courtesy of Jim Mastro. I wasn’t on the list and didn’t want to lock up my bike. Jenny Lewis sounded good at some points in the park, I kept moving around and found the sound to be dodgy in some areas.

There was a hole in the fence which various hipsters were going through, but you had to have a 28” waist to get through.

I decided not to watch Conor Oberst and rode around downtown. It was fairly crowded with tourists on this holiday weekend. Caught the Path to Exchange Place in Jersey City and rode back into Hoboken from there.

Did about 15 miles all together. Last night I went up to McSwells where I met Eddie Narucki and his wife. Eddie used to work at McSwells back in the day.

Rand and Lisa showed up as well as Lois. Roda was managing the club. It was a good time, lot’s of laughs and a few rounds which we were only charged for one round. Quite nice. My brother Frank showed up with his friend Rusty as well.

Didn’t get a chance to talk with Frank much since he was often around people that wanted to talk to him and I was with people that wanted to talk to me.

I saw Guy Beard, former McSwells DJ who I never really got along with and his wife Zena whom I did get along with. She was friends with Arif Mardin’s family so that was why we got along so well. She’s a bubbly spirit when compared to Guy’s dour personality.

The night ended when it should have and I decided to walk home and enjoy a cigar. As I got to my building I noticed I didn’t have my keys.

I retraced my steps to McSwells, contacted Roda and asked if anyone turned any keys in. They didn’t. I came home and called Bill who was sleeping.

He let me in where I found my keys hanging on the hook where I always leave them. All I could do was laugh at that. Bill went to bed and I soon joined him there.

hipsters (sans hats)

Wild Turkey in Battery Park