Category Archives: Happy?

I Need You Baby (Mona)

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Another day, another day with a very good chance of rain. Well it has come and gone and will come again. Yesterday was a lot of fun with Rand, wandering around the Lower East Side and the East Village, finally coming back to Hoboken for a few pints. All out of the ordinary things that I used to do frequently. And tomorrow should be an interesting adventure as well, at least that’s how it reads now. Last night was an easy write, thanks to the pints. I was buzzing along quite nicely and knocked off quite a number of words, surpassing my daily quota.

And now this, this is actually the second thing I have written today. I wrote another entry which I will hold in reserve, waiting to see how things turn out. More than likely it will be posted on Saturday, which will make it a week since something was done. I know, cryptic, right? Well what I wrote proved to be so easy and a bit accusatory, so I am being generous towards a certain party, giving them enough time to reply- yea or nay. I even have an idea which should be interesting should I act upon it.

Today has been relatively OK. Not much going on in Hoboken as usual. Got some nice compliments from some cigar aficionados about something I posted. It was good for the ego I guess. Of course it only works when you’re in front of the computer screen reading their kind words. The photos of me smoking a cigar in front of Jack Kirby’s birthplace went over well. And these cigar aficionados are concerned about my job search, they’re hoping that I get back in the cigar world, but that is not going to happen. I am happy to buy my cigars online.

Another nail in the coffin for those bricks and mortar stores, or those glass walled establishments. Even while working at the cigar shack, I would occasionally order my cigars online, for a few dollars more than the discount I was getting. I knew that the future of that business would soon be an online experience and when I said so I felt a bit like Billy Mitchell (1920’s version of GZA). Yes, there was a bit of Cassandra in my wording and I guess I was ignored out of fear rather than anyone taking the appropriate steps in meeting the challenge head on.

Forewarned should be forearmed but in that situation I spoke to limbless trees. And I do not mean to denigrate trees in any way. I guess I never did thank the marsupial for supplying me with Xanax from time to time, I mean- he did suggest that the dosage he was giving me was higher than I usually took, saying he didn’t want me nodding off in the humidor. Thanks!

A phone call and now there is drama with regards to photos I posted from either my birthday picnic or in the scanned photos I posted for Chaz. Someone wrote something rude about someone in the photos and Chaz just called me with concern about it. I didn’t see anything and Chaz does not have easy access to the computer. He’ll check tomorrow for things that I may have overlooked a minute ago. I suppose there is always some kind of drama going on, sometimes I am in the thick of it, sometimes I am waiting in the wings and sometimes I am merely sitting in the audience.

I also have to post how excited I get when I see musicians and writers I like and admire, post comments on my Facebook things. Really groovy man…

ecce homo





Are you there Kevin? It’s me, God.


96 Tears

I Must be Saved

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Today has been something special. Just really a good day. I slept well and the back ache that I did not write about yesterday has subsided somewhat. I must have slept funny because yesterday I felt bruised. But I wasn’t bruised, just achy. Today, not so much. And it’s been a gorgeous day overall. I just got back from a few hours of busking and it went really well. The toddlers were in good form and they love dancing around when I play, one kid has his eye on my guitar picks, another kid loves to see what is in the guitar case.

The minders are on top of it, especially when the kid started playing with a dollar bill in the guitar case. And of course, if you high five one of the kids, you have to high five all of them. And now the kids all want a turn strumming my guitar. Of course they’re not delicate, they hit- rather than stroke the strings but I usually take care of the situation and lift the guitar just out of reach. No crybabies, just fascinated kids. And there were a few toddlers besides the day care kids and they enjoyed themselves.

When I got to my spot by Pier A in Hoboken, a bloke walked up and admired my guitar, my Fender F-210. I had just gotten there and he sat a few feet away as I started to warm up. He asked if I could pick the strings when I play and I admitted that I rarely do that, except for my mutant version of Tracks of My Tears picking is difficult. I would love to play Dear Prudence or at least play Blackbird as well as Julio’s wife Stine does. The only song she claims to know and it’s difficult and intimidating to me.

The bloke, Randy- showed me a song to play finger picking, Edelweiss. Beautiful song from the Sound of Music, and I tried watching his fingers but couldn’t quite get it. He went back to work and I did my repertoire. After a few hours of that I packed up, but the thought of the song stayed with me, so I looked up the chords online via my smartphone and found myself strumming along, very easy to play. Not quite up to finger picking but still a very nice song to practice with.

So much so that a big guy sat down and listened to me play it for about twenty minutes. Then he walked away and I kept playing it, getting better I think, strum by strum. I was pretty hungry and decided to head home for dinner. And that is where I am now. I also just listened to Christopher Plummer singing Edelweiss which reminds me I should slow down the strumming and not make it a hard core version. Soft and sweet if the way to go if I’m going to do it right. It also helped that Bill & I watched a documentary about Oscar Hammerstein II on PBS a few weeks ago and it was repeated the other night.
That’s about it for today. I am hungry.

Old pics