Oh everything is just so fucking great. Life is wonderful. I just smile through the day. It’s my umbrella you know. I turned my frown upside down, and have put away all sharp objects. I cannot harm myself or anyone else. I work for the most wonderful company filled with the best coworkers ever!

I love them all so god damned much! I can’t imagine not working with them. Well that’s a double negative so I guess I can imagine not working with them. I plan on joining the office collection to get John McGruff a present for Christmas. I think they’re leaning towards a spine. He hasn’t had one for so long.

That was my mantra. I carried it through most of the day. Smile, say hello to everyone including Helen Pollard Isaac, who said I was a fag last week. Yes the death by kindness is my motive. I figure since they’re killing me with death by a thousand cuts, the least I can do is smile through the ordeal.

I listened to Pylon today. A lot of Pylon. They are/were a great band from Athens, GA. Vanessa, Michael, Curtis and Randy. I saw them quite a few times. I have to admit, the first time I saw them I didn’t like them very much. I saw them open for Talking Heads in Central Park in 1980.

I bought their second album at Free Being, a now defunct record store on 2nd Avenue. As soon as I played it, I fell in love with them. I turned Jet onto them also. Very danceable, stark and great vocals. Vanessa would dance wildly on stage, as Curtis would beat up his drums, and Randy and Michael would choreograph bass and guitars swinging in time to the beat.

One of their best songs was called ‘K’. It’s all about playing Scrabble, including points. There’s another song called ‘Yo Yo’. They were so great. They broke up in the eighties after touring over and over and not making much of an impression. They connected with me, but I certainly didn’t have the means to support them.

They reunited and played McSwells. Jet who was beginning his slide toward terminal illness was able to go to the show. I put him on the list as my guest, and he hung out with me as I DJ’d. He wasn’t strong enough to stay long after the show but still it provided a happy memory for the both of us.

If only it were a different time, Jet and I could’ve been roommates in Athens GA. What we’d be doing there, I have no idea. Despite the fact that it’s a college town, I don’t think either one of us would’ve wanted to go to school. Not there or anywhere.

Pylon still becomes active every now and then. They played on New Year’s Eve last year in Athens. I don’t think they’ll be coming up north anymore though. They all have their lives away from Rock And Roll. Vanessa has her kids, Curtis is a carpenter, Michael, or Randy has a clothing line.

They have a cool website www.wearepylon.com
Cheers.

Saturday. Nice day. A day off for some. Not for others. Bill had rented a Mini and drove me into the city. It’s a great little car, good enough for the Beatles, good enough for me and Bill.

I worked today, voluntarily at Farfetched. Farfetched is a store owned by two friends, Susan and Lois. It’s a nice place to work, but a lot of time on the feet is required. And Susan and Lois are really good people. If I can ever help them out and they ask, I certainly do.

I’ve known both of them since about 1997. They are actually Harry’s friends originally. Harry knew them from when he worked at New Video on University or maybe it was the Strand. Anyway he’s known them since the first day they opened. And that’s over 20 years.

They sell cards, and picture frames and knick knacks. It’s a fun store actually. Lot’s of silly things and lot’s of interesting things as well. I like playing music and entertaining the customers. During the holiday season it’s a very fast paced environment and that’s when I feel I’m at my best. I get to show off my wit and Harry is a great person to riff with. We also had an audience with Sharon who’s really fun and pretty.

Sharon’s husband Jocko is a great guy too, a fun couple. I usually run into them around 4:20. But not today. It was work. Fun work. Don’t want to screw that up or mess with Lois and Susan’s business. Today it was Sharon, Harry, Lois and myself. And a cast of hundreds, at least from 10AM to 6PM.

The music was Christmas music, from the Roches to Phil Spector to Harry’s amazingly cool X’mas CD that his girlfriend brought from San Francisco. Contemporary DJ’s cutting and dicing old holiday records from Andy Williams and Dean Martin to name but a few.

It would be worth owning, so I must get a copy burned, despite the fact I’d only play it a few times a year. It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit. A few people I know aren’t feeling it either. There was an undercurrent of cynicism from Sharon and me through parts of the day.

And of course the ribald humor from me. Occasional a customer enters the banter and tonight I was zinged really good. While cracking wise, I mentioned that I would be there for the next twenty minutes, a customer chimed in, “I guess I’ll come back in twenty minutes then.”

Zing!

I laughed. What else could I do? I can dish it out and I can take it. I appreciate another quick wit since they are so few and far between.

It was my last day of working at Farfetched for the holiday season. I’ve had some years where I worked too much and wound up totally fried and anti social. But nowadays they have a good enough staff available. I still might pop in during the week or next weekend and do some last minute shopping.

I do have to go back tomorrow to pick up my Phil Spector Christmas Album CD, which I left behind. I love the girls at Farfetched but I wouldn’t leave my CD’s behind after seeing how they treat their CD’s. No effin way.