Category Archives: Cool Cold Reality

Where it is and what it came from. The end-all, be-all, and all-for-a-dollar.

Let’s All Chant

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So here we are, it’s a Saturday. It’s been snowing for the past hour or so. Big wet flakes, not sticking, just turning to water once they hit the ground.

Last night was spent partly down at Julio & Stine’s apartment. I wanted to spend time with Alexander before they flew off to Denmark this afternoon. I brought my guitar and did my best to plat Give a Little Bit by Supertramp. I do love that song. Classic pop. That and Take the Long Way Home are two of my favorite Supertramp songs.

Oh yeah, Even in the Quietest Moments and Lover Boy. OK, I have a few favorite Supertramp songs. In fact their songs would be on a mix tape compilation in case I’m ever on that desert island. Never get tired of those songs, though they certainly dropped the ball after Breakfast in America.

Anyway, Alexander did his little Alexander dance to my guitar playing. He also got a kick out of my picking some notes when I played Please Please Me, which Julio and I sang while Stine printed out their airline tickets.

I encouraged Alexander to strum my guitar as I fingered some notes. He loved the pick also and even though Julio and Stine felt bad when he dropped the pick in the hole, it was not big deal. Just a few shakes and it was out again.

It fell to the floor and Alexander picked it up and gave it to me. After each song I would play, Alexander would clap his hands and say ‘Again?’ and I would play a different tune, like Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard which Julio couldn’t help but singalong to.

My mother would always say Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard whenever she would ask about Julio.

It was a fine time. Alexander was up way later than usual and eventually Stine had to put him to bed, after reading him a story. Julio and I sat at the kitchen table, drinking Galician wine which was quite nice.

Also sort of broke my rule of not eating after 7:00 at night and had 2 slices of pizza that they had ordered. Came upstairs, Bill was finishing watching 3 hours of Lawn Hors d’œuvre, and soon went to bed. I stayed up, watched the Simpsons followed by Craig Ferguson before I finally turned in myself.

Bill was up before I was this morning, attempting to rediscover the couch which was buried under so much of his stuff mainly. Some items were mine, but the majority were his. It was a bit of a pain of the ass to make room for Juan on the couch the other night, which is why I told Bill to get Juan to move into the bed once Bill was leaving for work.

I did have a plan to go to the Man Ray exhibit today. Texted Rand about it the other day but never heard anything so I was content to go solo. I was all set to go and made it out to the street. My plan was to take the subway to 96th Street and after the visit to the Jewish Museum, enjoy a stroll down Fifth Avenue, smoke a cigar and listen to some music on the iPod.

But when I got to street level in Hoboken I thought it was too cold and wet to do that and opted to return to the apartment where it was nice and cozy. The exhibit is on until March 2010 so I have time, but do plan an attempt next week, with the same agenda.

Bill was off doing theater things this afternoon so I watched Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid which was just precious. Jackie Coogan and Chaplin’s relationship is just so special, that almost 100 years later really makes you misty.

I thought about showing it to Julio, but he’d probably turn into a puddle with Alexander en route to Denmark. Still, it’s a sweet movie. Chaplin was certainly something, easy to see how he became the first big movie star.

The biographical picture about Chaplin starring Robert Downey Jr. is worth seeing as well. So if you can’t get one, watch the other if possible.

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Mr. Soul

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Well it’s been another strange couple of hours. It was good to participate in the demonstration last night with Bill. Always good to have him by my side as we fight for civil rights. Two can be stronger than one. Came home and settled in.

Soon Bill went to sleep and I just hung about, tired myself when Juan called. He asked if he can come by. I asked how he was going to do that and he said he would walk from Union City. I did tell him that I’m generally awake until 2:00 in the morning so of course he could come over.

And come over he did about 11:00. Soaking wet since he didn’t carry an umbrella in the raging storm . I got him an old pair of sweats and a fresh pair of socks and set his wet clothes by the heater to dry a bit. He was a bit out of it, the rain, his situation with cancer.

He did try to put on a brave face and had quite a ravenous appetite. He basically ate most things in the refrigerator, and drank a lot of juice.

And it was good to hang out with him, but there was something different. It was cancer, it was mortality. It was a 22 year old young man stricken with a disease. The humor was there and the playing of music was there like old times.

Juan was being strong but it was difficult for him and he was obviously stressed, so much so that some regurgitation came up. We wound up taking a walk around Hoboken around 2:00.

Where I used to be on the streets at that hour, it’s certainly been a while. The streets were empty. It was rain slicked and the temperature was 57 degrees, balmy with strong winds from the south. He ran into McDonald’s for some food and I waited outside having a cigar at 2:20AM.

By the time we got home Juan was finished eating and now just wanted to sleep. I tried to get some room for him on the couch, setting up a bucket nearby in case his nervous stomach acted up again. Also left a note on Bill’s alarm clock letting him know that Juan was sleeping on the couch so that Bill wouldn’t be surprised to see him laying there.

I also said it in Bill’s ear as he slept, hopefully planting a subconscious seed. And I also woke up a few times throughout the night to see if Juan was doing alright. He was snoring soundly which I took as a good sign.

Bill asked when he was up at 6:00AM where his trousers were and I sleepily told him. I asked if Juan was still sleeping and he was. I also asked Bill to tell Juan that he can sleep in the bed since there’d be more room in the bed than on the couch.

At 9:00 Juan started getting phone calls. A visit to Hackensack Hospital for some more tests and a call from his mother saying that his uncle was coming to Hoboken to pick him up. So Juan was out a little while after that.

I just puttered about after that like any other day, going out for the paper and whatnot. Saw Jim Mastro again and thanked him ever so gratefully for changing the strings on my guitar and adjusting the neck.

I tried playing Give a Little Bit by Supertramp as well as Take the Long Way Home. I adore both songs and though Give A Little Bit is an acoustic song mainly it has some very tricky timings in it. Take the Long Way home is very much a personal song for me and much easier to play.

When I initially went out the sky was blue with just a few clouds and I thought about going to the river to play, but decided not to when it quickly became overcast and looked like it would rain at any moment. It didn’t but I didn’t want to take that chance.

I think I am going to see the Man Ray exhibit at the Jewish Museum on Saturday. It’s free admission and though Rand expressed an interest, he hasn’t responded to my text from the other day, so ‘forget it brother, you can go it alone!’

Maybe I’ll bring my guitar and perhaps do some busking in Central Park, weather permitting of course.

Here’s a late minute add, some good news. I saw Stine & Alexander this afternoon. Carried the lad up the apartment while Stine had her hands full. I hung out for a little while in the apartment and played with Alexander for a while. His vocabulary is growing, sometimes or rather mostly in Danish, but it’s impressive. The two of them are leaving for Denmark on Saturday for a month.

At one point I asked Alexander, ‘where’s John?’ He pointed and then ran over and tagged me and gave me a high five. Made my day.

And also when I was leaving I waved bye bye to which Alexander waved Bye Bye and said Bye Bye as well. So sweet.