Author Archives: 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.

I Look To You

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Well today is June 22. And it’s been an alright day. It was quite hot then it rained for a bit, breaking up the hummus. Perfect time to run to the grocery store, the one around the block. I went on Wednesday and here I was again today. While there on Wednesday I ran into my neighbor Christine, one of my favorite Hoboken people. We chatted there and walked home together, stopping on the corner to talk we said hello to the guy who owns the liquor store on the corner as well as admiring a very happy baby being pushed in a stroller.

Today I ran into Christine once again, and once again we walked on by the guy who owns the liquor store and admired yet another happy baby as we talked on the corner. Déjà vu indeed. It’s always good to see Christine and we usually talk for a few minutes, catching up and gossiping about whomever from Maxwells or the stuff that is going on in Hoboken these days. Today’s topic was all about her old band the Mad Violets and playing around downtown NYC back in the day, and the late Wendy Wild beloved by all.

Last night I finally made it out of the apartment despite the heat and made it over by the river. The Thousand Pities, East of Venus and Yung Wu were playing. I knew people in all three bands, though some bands overlapped with members. My former guitar teacher Mike Carlucci was in both The Thousand Pities and East of Venus. I knew Mike was an excellent guitar player but didn’t know he sang and he did a credible job at vocalizing. Rob Norris from the Bongos played bass in East of Venus and I had a nice talk with him before the show.

Rob now lives upstate somewhere where he has been working as a massage therapist for the past 20 years. I knew that’s what he did, I just didn’t know he was doing it for so long. Stan Demeski, drummer extraordinaire and all around nice guy plays drums for the Feelies as well as East of Venus along with Glenn Mercer, guitarist for the Feelies and Yung Wu and East of Venus. Yes it’s a tangled yet musical web that is woven. It was a beautiful night on the banks of the Hudson River, quite cool and breezy.

In between acts I saw someone smoking a cigar on a bench nearby and figured that I would sit there and enjoy a cigar myself. After the initial lighting I sat and puffed away, checking the smartphone to let no one in particular where I was. Up walks John & Toni, who was once in a band with my brother Frank. Nice people, happy to see me as I was happy to see them. John was playing with Yung Wu which I didn’t know about but should have for some reason. It was good to hear some good music and see some old friends.

I came home after that, hungry enough to get a slice of pizza. The girl behind the counter is always happy to see me and always asks how I am doing. She’s looking to take a vacation either down the shore or to Puerto Rico which is a bit of a longer trip. I came home where Bill was engrossed in the NBA finals, happy that Miami won. Most everyone else I knew did not like Miami because of LeBron James. Not my Bill though. Not interested in that sort of thing, just happy they won.

Another rainstorm just passed and it’s considerably cooler out. Cool enough to take a walk outside and see what’s what. It’s June 22nd, and I was let go from the cigar shack on May 22nd. I guess that makes it a month or thereabouts. I occasionally wonder how things are there, understandable since I did spend almost 2 years there, so many days. Zack’s wife is due to have a baby in a few days and I sincerely hope all goes well. I miss working with Thomas and Jerry Vale but in the retail world there is no room and no time for memories, so I am certain they don’t think about me, which is fine.

Still when the temperatures are in the upper 90 degree range, I am glad that I do not have to wear a suit and stand around for 9 hours. There are also customers I miss chatting with and I am sure I am forgotten by that crew, a month after the fact.

La di dah, la di dah.





The Thousand Pities


East of Venus


Yung Wu


mmm...trippy...


19 Rapids & Current

I Look Good (Without You)

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Oh it has been one of those days. Once again it has been quite hot, 98 degrees. I spent most of the day inside, fighting the blues mostly. The past two days have been fairly active what with bicycle riding on Tuesday and hitting the galleries in Chelsea yesterday. Today there was none of that. Too damn hot basically. I kept busy, I did some laundry and shaved. I think this weekend I will go and get my hair chopped off since it is so damn thick it’s like wearing a fur hat and makes for a sweaty night of sleep.

According to Bill I have been quite chatty as I sleep at night. He keeps saying that he will record what I say and I do want to know what it is that I say, but on the other hand perhaps I don’t. Last night I had a long conversation with myself apparently as I lay under a fan. And it was so hot that I woke up before the alarm clock after Bill gave his farewell kiss to me. I stumbled about the hot apartment, finding the cool water to be just as good as a cup of coffee which was brewing in the next room.

I did some laundry and where it sometimes takes 24 hours for it to dry on the racks, today it was merely a few hours before the clothes were wearable once more. A trip to the supermarket, (the closer one) and the dry cleaners have been my only excursions outdoors today. That is going to change in about a half hour when I go see a few bands with people that I know playing in them, by the Hudson River as part of the summer series that Hoboken has each year.

I expect that there will be a few people I know watching the bands play. A Thousand Pities, East of Venus and Yung Wu are playing and my former guitar teacher is in two of the bands. The other band features some of the Feelies including everyone’s favorite drummer, Stan. It should be fun and believe me, I will be more than happy to be outside, hoping it will be cooler by the river. I finally started reading the Los Bros. Hernandez books. I was going to return them on my way to the show, but I glanced inside the Maggie the Mechanic book and was immediately drawn back in.

I do have to stop at the bibliothèque anyhow. A DVD of the Elephant Man is waiting for me as is the latest Me’Shell Ndegeocello CD. I was reading about John Hurt the other day, Chesterfield John Hurt, not Mississippi John Hurt and figured The elephant Man might be good for the soul. I had seen it already and also saw it on Broadway when David Bowie played the title role. We had first row seats for that and during the curtain call the fans behind us gave David a bouquet, which David was kind enough to thank us for, to the dismay of the fans who actually gave him the flowers.

I may write more later after the show but for now, this is it.






A Gallon of Gas