johnozed

About johnozed

I'm 50+ years old, 210-ish#, 6'2", reddish blonde, blue eyes with glasses (and without) masculine, funny, relatively intelligent, enjoy the company of assorted friends and family especially sordid friends and family. I love music, reading, writing, conversing, laughing, going to films, shows, concerts and smoking cigars. And I also enjoy looking nice in a suit and tie. Looking more like Lewis Lapham than Tom Wolfe. I'm sure there is more, but we'll just have to find out when I write about it. In a lifetime relationship with partner Bill Vila.

Today I find myself at the Israeli Consulate. Well not really, but it might as well be. No Zionists here, just Shlomo and I don’t think he cares much for Zion or much of anything except for cigars. I got a desperate phone call this morning from Shlomo, begging me to come to the store. He can’t pay me, but I will get a few cigars out of the deal, plus a discount on future purchases. He has a lot of running around today and tonight and since Israel is unavailable and I am very close by, I got the call.

It hasn’t been that bad, in fact Shlomo has been in and out all day. At one point I was running errands for him., a trip to the copy shop, a trip to the post office and a trip to the bank. Shlomo does all the heavy lifting and I am merely the gopher. I don’t mind. A few minutes here and there outdoors is fine by me. Not too much time, since it has gotten quite cold outside. Now I am solo, Shlomo running around in his Dreidel mobile and I am safely inside listening to old school reggae.

Last night as Bill was looking for an envelope I threw in a Harry Potter movie, the Goblet of Fire. Bill never saw it before and he liked it. There was nothing else on and he wanted to watch something and so it fell to me to find something fitting to watch. It did the job, he was happy and he searched through the apartment. He’s been looking for a while and I don’t know where it is and I know I didn’t throw it out since I never throw out anything of Bill’s, no matter how questionable it is.

As Andrew Feldman said all those years ago, ‘it’s always the last place you looked’.

Tonight is the 12.12.12 concert at Madison Square Garden and the internets are abuzz with the word that Paul McCartney will be performing with Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl from Nirvana. Why not? Kurt was a left handed guitarist as is Macca so maybe Paul will be on one of Kurt’s old guitars. Some people were upset for some reason, I just think things have just gotten that much more interesting. I was going to watch it anyway, and just in case, Bill set the recording up on the DVR.

Still not used to it being dark out at 5PM. You’d think after all these years I would be, but I’m not. A few interesting things at Maxwell’s for Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah stint. The Raybeats opened up the other night with Emo Phillips, followed by the Sun Ra Arkestra and then last night the Feelies opened up. I finally finished the Yo La Tengo book. So many errors, didn’t the publisher ever do any fact checking? I was more embarrassed than anything with regards to the book. But then again the author has one on me.

And on Facebook, I hope I did not insult Hugo, former drummer for Gang of Four. I admit I was snarky but couldn’t resist taking the piss. He responded in kind, calling me a pillock, which I deserved. I saw Joe Pantoliano on the street walking past the cigar shop. He said hello and I said he has to stop by sometime. He remarked that he doesn’t smoke anymore, but still a photo op would be nice. He doesn’t have to smoke the cigar, just hold one, maybe shake hands with Shlomo or Israel or Brandon.

Let It Be Me

Tuesday afternoon, 2:00. This is not a drill, nor is it a dream. It just is. Temperature has dropped considerably, back to December weather after another warmish day. I am at the bibliotheque once again, not in the Marquis de Sade chair, no this one is more suited for Stephen Hawking. Whatever event they had planned in the bibliotheque today has been cancelled. In the distance I can hear the women at the circulation desk doing their thing with an occasional giggle as the carts full of CD’s and DVD’s wind their way back to the audio visual room.

Bill and I watched In Bruges the other night, a British movie starring Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. I had watched it once before, not paying much attention and didn’t much care for it. This time with Bill on Sunday night, nothing else was on and we both enjoyed it a lot. It’s definitely dark humor, I won’t give it away and a bit violent. Definitely haunting though as Bill and I both found ourselves thinking of it separately the next day. I would recommend it for certain people, but not for everyone since it does get a little bit bloody throughout the film.

I’ve been making an effort to listen to more music and watch less TV. So far it’s been working out nicely. Last night when Bill came home from a staged reading he is directing I was in the middle of a playlist I made called ‘Lazy Day’ with the Seekers and Spanky and Our Gang. Music that usually gets sneered at but for me it’s all sunshine and lollipops. Basically it was a Top 40 sampler from the 1960’s to the late 1970’s. I know I enjoyed it. And of course there is Port St. Willow.

I can’t stop playing Port St. Willow, especially since it is properly loaded into my iPod, so it goes with me everywhere. I had to contact Bandcamp with regards to a problem I had with the download and in doing so I also had a question to ask. Is it Port Saint Willow, or Port Street Willow. They didn’t know and recommended that I contact Port St. Willow also known as Nick Principe. And so I did. Nick Principe answered my question soon enough with an initial ‘Ha’. I don’t think he anticipated the question but he answered that it is Port SAINT Willow.

I also asked if he was playing Maxwells anytime soon, or did I miss the boat. It turns out that they did have a gig at Maxwells but it was canceled. He could see a show coming up in the early part of next year and that info will be posted on the band’s page on Tumblr. With that, he wished me well and I did the same. I was tickled to get a response so soon and with the answers I was looking for. I will be at the Maxwells show if and when it happens.

Now I am home. Bill swing by the bibliotheque to say hello. He’s now in bed, fast asleep and it’s not even 7:00. He was that tired. ANd I am a bit tired myself since I haven’t slept well the past two nights. I do have to thank Casey Chasm for the vinyl copy of Stop Making Sense. Heart in the right place for the Casey Chasm. I wish he would have asked if I had it, since I now have three copies, two vinyl and the CD, four if you count the DVD.

Now all I need is a turntable.

No I don’t.

Dedicated to the One I Love