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 Can See It In Your Eyes

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It’s back to work for me today. Day one out of five. Oddly enough I’ve been in a good mood. Of course this morning there were some blues, it being a holiday weekend a lot of people are heading out of town for a three day weekend. I’ll be working. Of course I would rather have a Monday through Friday job and all that entails, but obviously it ain’t happening this week. Maybe next week.

Last night Bill and I finally had his birthday dinner. Not a steak at Arthur’s Steakhouse, but rather we split a pizza at John’s Pizza in midtown. We’ve eaten there before and always enjoyed it. I think the last time I was there was with my sister in law Elaine and my niece Corinne after we saw an exhibition of artifacts from the Titanic.

The restaurant was quickly packed, lot’s of tourists and out of towners. Bill and I didn’t drink though. Bill had ginger ales and I had diet Pepsi’s. We devoured the pizza and had chocolate mousse pyramids which lacked a birthday candle even though I mentioned it to Sam our waitron.

Bill and I walked around a bit after dinner. I lit up a cigar and we stood watching the tourists. I noticed Fran Lebowitz walking down the street and say ‘Hey Fran’ to which she wittily replied, ‘Hey’. Then a few minutes later, we saw Dean Winters from OZ & the Allstate commercials. I blanked on his name and said ‘Dude!’.

I am pretty sure Fran Lebowitz was off to see the same show as Bill & I. We had tickets to see The Motherfucker with the Hat. The play stars Bobby Cannavale, Annabella Sciorra & Chris Rock, and also features Yul Vasquez and Elizabeth Rodriquez. It was a very fast 90 minutes with no intermission. We had seats in the second row of the mezzanine. Fran Lebowitz kept kicking my seat.

It was funny, and heavy and will probably end it’s run in a few weeks when Chris Rock’s contract ends. Chris Rock was good, but I would watch Bobby Cannavale and Annabella Sciorra in just about anything. And now I will have to watch out for Yul Vasquez and Elizabeth Rodriquez. The dialogue was excellent, I know or knew quite a few people who sound just like that.

Bill and I were back in Hoboken about 10:15, he went to bed a little while after that. I watched the Colbert Report and surfed the web before I turned in. I woke up later than expected, 9:00 which lit a fire under my ass somewhat. Still I was on time for work. Lots of guys buying cigars for the weekend. All of them heading out of town or at least having staycations which for me a long time ago would have been fine, but I would rather leave town.

A week from tomorrow my sister comes to town and I am excited about that. Bill might join us one day at the beach which would be super great.

Now I’m home again. Juan might be stopping by. He asked me to wait for him at the train station, since he was still in Princeton but I just wanted to get home and write this. Of course if I had a normal job, getting home around 6 or 7:00 sure I would, but after 10 hours in a suit & tie, one of the last things I want to do is hang around a train station on a Friday night.

It will be cool to see Juan. Hadn’t seen him in some time and I might also see Pedro this weekend. He told me he might be in the area this weekend. Would be nice.






I Can See In Color

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A beautiful summer day, a Thursday at that. Last night didn’t work out as planned but it was still an enjoyable night. Bill and I did not have the birthday dinner like we anticipated. He wound up staying in the city since there was a car fire and every bus that was leaving the terminal sat idling for quite a while. He decided to get off the bus and go back to the office.

He had taken off of work today and decided to set things up for his replacement. I came home and had a sandwich before heading up to Maxwells. It was certainly a mellow evening. No rushing through dinner to make the show. I walked up to Maxwells where my brother Frank was already inside.

I bought the tickets at the beginning of June, opting for the ‘Will Call’ service and Frank was able to get in as my plus one. I walked in and saw Pat Irwin from the Raybeats as I stood at the bar and ordered a pint of Guinness. I met up with a former Maxwells habitué, Alirio. We never really talked back in the day but thanks to Facebook a line of communication had opened.

As we stood there talking, this attractive woman comes up to me yelling that I hadn’t changed at all. It was Patti Quinn, another mainstay from back in the day. She had already talked to Alirio and focused all her attention on me which was flattering. She was there with her nephew Liam who just got back from Taipei, as well as her 2 children.

I don’t think she expected to see so many old faces and I don’t think she knew what was going on in the back. We talked for a few minutes before I headed into the back room. I found my brother Frank thanks to Stan Demeski from the Feelies. Stan was there with his lovely wife Janice and Frank was standing next to them, next to the soundboard which is where we always used to stand years ago.

The Schramms were playing and they were enjoyable. After that came the Raybeats, who I really wanted to see the most. The Raybeats were the band that Danny Amis was in a long time ago. Danny had bone cancer, which is in remission thanks to stem cell therapy. Still he has enormous medical bills which is what these benefits around the country as well as Mexico are all about.

After Danny left the Raybeats, he formed a band called Los Straightjackets in which all the band members wear wrestling masks. They’re big in Mexico too. The Raybeats were phenomenal. I love the Raybeats. Last night they had Steve Almaas on bass guitar. Alirio pointed that out and I didn’t hear what Alirio has said at first, but I did notice the Dan Electro bass he was playing. I had seen Steve Almaas several times years ago when he was in Beat Rodeo.

When the Bongos were a 3 piece, and thinking about adding another guitar, it was down to Steve Almaas and Jim Mastro. Jim got the gig and Steve did his own thing. And Jim Mastro was enjoying the show last night as well. So many people from the past & present, including Chaz Charas, whom it is always good to see.

Adele Bertei came on stage and sang Shakin’ All Over with the Raybeats and once again it was over way too soon. Then came the Individuals who put on a good set, all the original members made the show. Then came Yo La Tengo who did a very good set and finished with Jody Harris from the Raybeats on a fantastic feedback drenched finale.

It was all over around midnight I think, and I’m not sure since by the end I wound up having about half dozen pints of the black beer. Oh yes, I am paying for it today, but happily doing so. As tired as I was beforehand, seeing the Raybeats made me believe in the rejuvenating power of rock & roll.

So now I am home after running some errands. Heading into the city to see The Motherfucker with the Hat on Broadway. It stars Bobby Cannavale, Annabella Sciorra and Chris Rock. Bill and I are both quite excited to see it. I am meeting him around 6:15 at John’s Pizza in midtown for dinner before the show.

It’s been a very good and exciting 24 hours.

The Raybeats (with Gail Ann Dorsey) backing Adele Bertei at Joe’s Pub 2010

Pat Irwin, Steve Almaas, Don Christensen and Jody Harris


Yo La Tengo