Monthly Archives: April 2010

Worlds Famous

Today’s certainly been an odd day. Yesterday it reached the 92 temperature range and today it was in the 80’s.

Malcolm McLaren died today. He managed the Sex Pistols in their initial incarnation, the New York Dolls in their last days and created Bow Wow Wow after taking the Ants away from Adam. He also introduced hip hop and rap to a larger audience.

The Sex Pistols were supposed to play Saturday Night Live in 1977 but canceled and so Elvis Costello & the Attractions stepped into the breach with drummer Pete Thomas wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Thanks Malc’.

I remember one of the first times I was visiting Washington DC and was in some club with Jet when I heard this opera thing mixed with hip hop playing. It turned out to be Madame Butterfly by Malcolm McLaren.

He was influential for sure and apparently pushed more boundaries than Johnny Rotten and the rest of the Pistols ever did.“Rock and roll doesn’t necessarily mean a band. It doesn’t mean a singer, and it doesn’t mean a lyric, really. It’s that question of trying to be immortal.” – Malcolm McLaren.

Last night Bill and I watched Lawn Hors d’œuvre Criminal Malcontent. The farewell to Vincent D’onofrio and Katheryn Erbe. It was good but I don’t think Bill appreciated my snark throughout the show. I won’t give it away if you haven’t seen it yet.

After that Bill went to play his keyboards and I watched Ugly Betty which was really good. I used to watch it all the time but then they kept moving it around and I lost track of where it was an ultimately lost interest. I decided to give it a go once again when I found there were only a handful of episodes left.

And it was great and hilarious and wonderful to see Betty’s nephew Justin coming out to himself and his family. You never can tell if someone is gay or not until they actually come out at their own time. True, Justin was flaming, but there are effeminate straight men out there and there are butch as all hell gay guys out there.

I kept calling Bill into the TV room to watch what was going on. It was so much more enjoyable than Lawn Hors d’œuvre, though both feature excellent actors. Ugly Betty ended with a cliffhanger. Wilhelmina shot?

Today was nice enough. Ran into Deborah and Claire, two neighbors from my building, Deborah on the fourth floor, and Claire maintaining her apartment on the first. Seems that I only see Claire once a year now. Deborah I see once a month.

I invited both of them to the summer party. Picked up Mojo and Uncut today which was super cool. Haven’t started to read Mojo yet but it won’t be delayed like the New Yorker, of which I am still in the February issues.

Also busked today. Tariq stopped by complaining about not getting home until 7:00 this morning. Not the life I want to lead, having lead that life but not those hours in the last century. He was heading into the city and didn’t stay long, his girlfriend stopped by.

She’s sweet and French and also showed me how to play I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash. I met her the other day when she was with Tariq and I got her name then but forgot about it today and forgot to ask as well.

I have to say it was a thrill to learn that song since it was one of the first 45’s I bought for myself.



Help Me, Rhonda

It’s summer. It’s April 7. It reached 82 degrees today. Craziness abounds. Yesterday was quite warm as well. Bananas. Bananas I tell you. Last night I sat on the stoop and had a cigar. Talked to Harpy for a bit. Talked to my pal Claymore as well.

Just killing time before I went back upstairs in time to watch Lost. I will be glad when it’s over. 5 episodes left. Last night was all about Desmond and a barrow in the marketplace. Midway through I got a call from Pedro. Normally I would resent the caller and not take the call but he’s been going through some hard times and felt I should take the call.

He thinks I’m one of the smartest people he knows and really respects my opinion. So I had to be there for him. He’s a great friend though and even if he thought I was an idiot I would be there for him, though it wouldn’t be nice of him to think I was an idiot. He’s called me up twice the past 2 nights, stressed out. Too much drama and since it’s not mine I won’t write about it here.

I caught up with Lost after pausing it for about 25 minutes. I recorded Hors d’œuvre Criminal Malcontent for Bill since he was rehearsing with Tom his drummer pal, the guy who witnessed the civil union thingy last Saturday. Last weeks episode was good and last night was the exit of Vincent D’onofrio. Haven’t seen it yet. I also spent some time learning how to play Walk on By, Help Me Rhonda, Going Down to Liverpool and Don’t Worry Baby.

Today was a beautiful day and I made it out to the river after emailing my resume to a few more job listings. No drunkards to be seen and Tariq wasn’t around. I applied sun block and found a nice spot to play. Karen Kuhl and her friend Christine walked by. Karen was surprised to see me out playing. She asked me to play something for her and I played Walk on By. Then Tariq showed up while I was playing Walk on By and he liked it.

He mentioned how he was out at an open mike last night and was a bit hungover. He wanted to play Melissa by the Allman Brothers and I said no. I explained that I didn’t want to play the same songs everyone else plays and I wasn’t interested in playing hippie songs like Melissa. I think he was a bit put off since he mentioned that he was a hippie.

I said that was why I didn’t want to play in Washington Square Park. Too many squares playing the same old crap. To cheer him up we played Love Shack while some guy played Tariq’s drum, which Tariq usually carries around.

Tariq loves that song and once again remarked on how he has to learn it. I told him to put it on the list of songs to learn to play. Then I surprised him and myself by doing some guitar improv. Same three chords with different people walking by and different comments. I made Tariq laugh and he said I made his day.

He was off to the city and asked me to come along but I opted to stay in Hoboken. He was off and a few minutes later Rand stopped by on the way to the Path train. I was in the middle of playing Don’t Worry Baby and then played Walk on By for him. All in all I was out there for 3 hours again, just playing singing and having a good time.
4.7.10 hoboken 003