1981 was 44 years ago. I drove to California with Perry Dedovitch. It was that trip to Canoga Park, and Perry told me I did not have to act so smart. Apparently, his relatives in Canoga Park thought I was putting on airs and trying to sound so intelligent when I was really just being myself. It was funny in an odd way, but it just goes to show how uneducated perhaps his relatives were, refugees from Clifton, New Jersey, resettled into the Los Angeles area.

I used to think there was a way for a long time, but I think it was less than a month took a week to get out there driving Perry’s van, stopping each night along the way.

We stayed with his relatives for a few days, then wound up having to go to Las Vegas because they were not going to leave us alone in their house while they went to Las Vegas, and then a drive back, which took about 5 days since we drove non-stop. Do I regret the journey? I am not sure, as it was an experience to say the least. Would I repeat it? Oh hell no.

This memory was brought to you via a social media friend who had posted that it was 44 years ago that Elvis Costello and the Attractions had released their country album Almost Blue. I flashed forward to New Year’s Eve 1981 with Dave Bell and two of his friends going to the Palladium to see Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

The trip to California with Perry showed that I was able to drive steadily across country and back, and a few months later, in 1982, when the driving to New York from Saddle Brook two times a day position opened up, I volunteered for it and got the job. And that opened up a whole new world, introduced me to Jet Watley, and showed me New York City from the inside.

Perry was the first one that I had come out to, and that was a big mistake since it resulted in a betrayal. However, Jet was accepting and welcoming since he was gay himself. The friendship between Perry and me crashed and burned. I was shocked, I was in tears, and eventually I got over it and got to be a very good guitar player, especially compared to Perry.

I was introduced to a group of people from Colgate University and fell in with them for a few years. Sometimes one of them turned blue in a bar on the East Village, but that’s a whole other story, one that the blue man would probably rather forget or at least would not want his children to know about.

So, thanks to that betrayal, as awkward and painful as it was, things definitely got better and removed me from that suburban daydream that I used to have and put me back into the world where I’ve been thriving sort of for a few decades.
Presently dealing with melancholy. It’s just very slow at the office today, hardly anyone’s in, so there’s no one to talk to or direct or help. So I’m left with my thoughts, and that’s necessarily not a good thing.
Bill is home. He came to the office yesterday and met Jimmy Chile. They got a long swimmingly is quite nice, and I had an enjoyable ride home on the PATH train, and then a walk through Hoboken at trip to the supermarket, where I almost bought hot dog rolls but figured I had bread at home, and then I got home to find out there was not much bread since Bill ate a lot of it. I got upset and let him know I was upset.

At work, there was the morning meeting, which I generally do not like to attend, but I have to, and so I do, and it takes about a minute for me to say my part, and then I have to sit there for another 45 minutes and listen to everybody else tell their stories.

Tomorrow I need to go to the main food stands for another meeting at this time, it will be in person, and the only redeeming value I can find in that is that I will add to my gathering steps for that day. This past Sunday, I set my counter to bike riding and did not set it back on Monday, which gave me over 600 steps for Monday, which I did not realize until I got home that night.

Oh, melancholy is overwhelming me at the moment.

It seems Mike’s beloved will be arriving tomorrow after a bunch of weeks where he backed out. If he actually shows up, that would be a major accomplishment. I am intending not to contact Mike over the weekend so he can focus on his beloved.

The owners of the fruit stand have arranged for people to get flu shots today. I inquired if it was for everyone, and they said no, since I am only contracted to work at the food stand, but not working for the fruit stand. No flu shots for me. So that means that if I get the flu, I get to bring it into work and spread it around, which is not what I want to do, but it is a possibility

Been 30 minutes since I’ve been outside, and it’s a bit chilly, so I’m going in in a moment.

Now, I am home with Bill. We’ve had Mike on the phone, trying to help him out so he would know which gate at the airport to meet his beloved. The beloved is flying from SFO to EWR, and all the info we’ve gotten thru Mike from his beloved is somewhat weird. Nothing matches up for United or American Airlines.

Bill has been handling these things since he thrives in itineraries. So when the phone rings, I have Bill handle it, which led Mike to think I was mad at him. He had to be reassured that I wasn’t, that this was Bill’s wheelhouse. When I travel with Bill, I just have to follow wherever he is going. It makes travel a pleasure for both of us.

Bill is wary of the beloved and the info, and it’s worrying me as well. And I think Mike is slowly feeling the same way. We all hope we’re wrong.

I just received word that there is a reunion of some people that I used to work with at Skyline recording studio on 37th Street in midtown Manhattan. They were good people, but it’s been over 30 years since I last saw them.

I used to think reunions were something promising something fun, but having been to one or two of them, I realized that it’s anything but. For me, it’s uncomfortable. It’s a reopening of old wounds, or at least a viewing of the scar. The high school reunion in 2000 was a complete waste of time, although the cocaine was very good and I did not share it with anyone. I left, realizing that I never want to see these people ever again.

In 2013, I went to a Right Track Recording reunion, and that was just as awkward as I would have expected it to be. I saw someone that I might have done wrong back in the day, and felt so embarrassed that I went out for a smoke and never went back. I also spoke to a producer’s wife and asked where so-and-so was, not realizing that the producer and so-and-so might have had an affair back in the day, underneath the wife’s nose. That was awkward enough to make me want to leave as soon as possible, and I did.

So hearing of a reunion of people that I have not seen in over 30 years does not appeal to me in the slightest. And once again, I have nothing against these people; they were generally nice people. But I just found out about it a few hours ago, and I’m not going to throw everything up in the air should be uncomfortable for a few hours tonight, especially since I’m a block away from the PATH train, which is basically 30 minutes from home. The whole thing starts around 6:30 I get out at 5:00, it ain’t going to work.

And things have just gotten slightly weird concerning Mike and concerning Bill. From out of the blue might received a check from social security administration for a lot more money than he had never seen before in his hands and he wasn’t sure what it was for or why it was sent and the plan was was going to contact social security to find out but was going on but the long lineof being on hold on the phone was too much so he went and cashed the check anyway believing that the people behind the 2-in glass recognized that it was an authentic check.

Bill is worried that this will bite Mike in the ass and perhaps cause us some injury as well. I explain that there are no financial ties between us, there is no paper trail between us, but they’ll recognize social media and figures that would be a way to implicate us in something that we should not have anything to do with.

Mike was impetuous. I had made arrangements for Mike to come over and talk to Bill about it, but obviously that’s not going to happen. Bill’s worry has me worried, and I am supposed to call up Mike around 1:00, though Bill did decree that this talk was between us and only us.

I got through with Bill on the phone, and we talked. Bill seems okay with what Mike is doing and what Mike is going through, so I have no choice but to believe Bill. I just called Mike, got his voicemail, and did not leave any message.