Monthly Archives: April 2025

Star Bike Shop

So damn tired. Day six of the new job. Last Monday in April. A good day was had with Mike while Bill was on the road. Mike enjoys Hoboken. He finds it exciting. He wasn’t here 40 years ago when, for me, it was exciting.

Nowadays, it’s all babies and dogs. Mike likes the new buildings that have popped up, changing the face of neighborhoods and inhabited by newcomers to town who can afford $4000 a month rent or condo fees. That would be no one that Bill or I know, and I doubt if Mike would know anyone in that bracket either.

There was a small art show throughout Hoboken yesterday, and we went to the Neumann Leather Building, where Karyn Kuhl exhibited her art a few doors down from where Tim Daly had his art on display. Karyn and a friend of hers found me to be funny and suggested that I do stand-up comedy.

That brought on a brief talk about how I might do such a thing. I once again brought up this here blog and the intention to do an on-camera thing, inspired by the late Spalding Gray. Where Spalding would sit at a table and read from his journals, those spaces are gone now, and Spalding might be posting online his stories. That raised some eyebrows in a good way.

We met a few other artists, mainly female artists, who had some very nice work. It was a windy spring Sunday, and after leaving Neumann Leather, we wandered back home. Bill soon joined us after his transportation adventure.

We watched Daredevil, which while good, and Bill and I watched for the second time for Mike’s sake. I would have preferred to watch something fun and lighthearted. The other night I came across a business card for Star Bike Shop. That was from the twentieth century.

Julio and I were riding our bicycles from Weehawken to Central Park Summerstage. As luck would have it, I got a flat tire. It was a hot summer day, and there was not much by way of a bike shop in Harlem where we stopped. We wondered what to do when a man with one arm approached us.

He repaired bikes in his apartment and offered to fix my flat tire, we would just have to go to his apartment. I had no problem with that, though Julio was understandably worried. I got a good vibe from the one-armed man. We got to the one-armed man’s apartment after climbing a few flights of stairs, and about 10 minutes later, my flat was fixed and we were on the street.

We were going to a reggae show and suggested that the man join us, but he thanked us, and after paying him $10.00, we were soon crossing 110th Street and entering the park. I don’t remember the band we were seeing, and for some reason, I think it was Burning Spear, though I could be wrong about that. It was a good memory of a time and a world that more than likely does not exist anymore.

Tick Tock

It is Saturday night, the last Saturday in April, for Hoboken this year. It’s been a humid day. I woke up stressed and a bit depressed. The job weighed heavily on my mind. I got through it somehow. Bill is on the road crazy early tomorrow, so he went to bed earlier, around 7:30 PM.

Mike is here and in the loo. I cued up a favorite Harry Potter movie for him and paused it when nature called. In the interim, I am playing 10CC, I’m Not in Love which always brings me to being in the car with my father in the summer of 1975. My father must’ve had a top forty station playing, which is why I heard it with him driving.

I am always drawn back to that summer day with my father. Not a bad memory, and if it’s a good memory, it’s because of the song. It really could have been anyone driving, but my memory points to my father.

Bill, Mike, and I ran some errands in between a few raindrops. I offered to let them off easy since I was the only one with an umbrella, which could fit two, but with three people, that meant someone was going to get wet. But it wasn’t a steady rain, just some sprinkles here and there.

The really big supermarket was a bit empty since our favorite cashier, Arti, had her last day on Tuesday, and she was heading back to India. Bill and I tried to guess why she was leaving, and we both agreed that L’Orange Merde might have had something to do with it.

Or perhaps her visa expired. Or she saw the writing on the wall. Regardless, both Bill and I looked for her at her perch, and though there was someone doing Arti’s job, there was a void in her place.

Mike had hoped to watch the Hunger Games Part 3, but the timing was off with Bill’s early bedtime, so we binge watched Abbott Elementary, which is funny and not depressing. Now I am playing Raphael Saddiq, Instant Vintage, which is an all-time favorite of mine. I first saw Raphael on TV, with Tony Toni Tone on Saturday Night Live.

I knew the songs, so I was prepared. After Tony Toni Tone split up, he formed Lucy Pearl which is where I saw him play with Dawn from En Vogue and Ali Shaheed Mohammed from A Tribe Called Quest. It was a wonderful show that I attended with my friend Gian East. I could have sworn Raphael was looking straight at me and smilin’ that smile of his. Just a wonderful memory.

Mike is off the porcelain throne, and I switched the Harry Potter to Finding Nemo. Something more lighthearted, which is sorely needed in my life. A wonderful talk with Annemarie this afternoon. Another confession on how I do not believe in myself.

The hurdles and roadblocks that I see are not there because of anyone else but me. Easy to write and recognize. All I have to do is keep on keepin’ on. Fake it till I make it.