Category Archives: Hopelessly banal with a slathering of ennui

Five Weeks

In the belly once again. Yancy requested being available on Friday and I agreed that I would be available. Kimberley was marked as being out of the office so once again I would be sitting on her throne. To my surprise Kimberley came in as she was supposed to. I asked Yancy where I should be and he remarked how odd it was that the calendar was wrong.

I asked if I should stay in the belly or head back to my little corner of the fruit stand.
No reply from Tandy on that matter. It does seem pointless for me to be here. All hands are on deck and able to handle whatever is thrown at them. I’m just a relief pitcher which is an odd thing for me to say. It is ridiculous. This is more than likely Yancy’s mistake and now I have been requested to stay in the belly for the day.

It seems to be Yancys awkward day today. Better him than me I reckon. Bill is a block or so away from me, driving smart students from Lehigh University around Manhattan. There will be no meeting up for us today as the timing is baffling.

I think I had another dream involving Maxwells last night. This one may have been more in the back room. It could be from falling down a rabbit hole that featured deceased people I had known, one involved Skyline Studios. I had gone to dinner at an assistant engineer’s apartment, Rich Lamb and his wife. It was a pleasant dinner party overall. Also in attendance was Maureen Kennedy. She worked at Skyline at some point.

She also lived above Maxwell’s and since I was headed there after the dinner party I thought it made sense to ask her to join me. I didn’t know she had basically lived in exile above Maxwell’s. She had been a habitue at Maxwell’s before I was there and was married to one of the Roger’s brothers who hated my guts for some reason. I found it humorous since I didn’t think of them at all.

Maureen ingratiated herself back in the scene but she started to unravel. She became partners with some good guys in an established business venture, and that went south. The partners (full disclosure-friends of mine)wound up being sued by Maureen despite being given a sweet deal when she and the generous partners went their separate ways.

She was also madly in love with Julio much to Julio’s dismay. Sending him long, rambling letters that were largely incoherent. I do think that I shouldn’t have reintroduced her to the Maxwell’s scene but I didn’t know. After the business venture collapsed she left town and went upstate where she eventually passed away.

The other dearly departed was Kevin Crud, or in the other side of social media, Kevin Croughn. Nice guy sometimes, difficult personality other times. A gossip and a short tempered artist who could bully if and when he wanted to. He took me in when I was in a not that great a space.

It was all before my life would turn upside down in the early 1990s.

Life with Kevin was not easy but it had moments of fun. Like I said, he was a gossip so who knows what tales he told about me.

Due to some railroad construction in the final stages of completion, the final leg of their commute was shut down for the next five weeks. That meant for a crowded Path train this morning.

Knowing the sounds of trains coming into the station, I figured out a train was coming in next so I walked through the crowded train car and, excusing myself, made it to the neighboring platform where I waited for an empty car.

The ride home was even more crowded. Since I was in the belly which is at the end of the line, it is also the start of the line and I was able to snag a seat.

It’s going to be lke this for the next five weeks.

All Over the Place

46 years ago, while working for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, I was sent to work in Moonachie. Perry Dedovich and I were assigned to clean out a warehouse, working under the supervision of Paul Lo Presti and his partner in embezzlement, Dave Manzo. The warehouse was mostly empty to begin, but there was a lot of dust and debris left behind.

We would take some blue substance and throw it atop the dust so that the dust wouldn’t create clouds. The blue substance was probably toxic but it was 1980 and no one knew any better. We would meet at the book warehouse in Saddle Brook, and get in a dilapidated van for the drive to Moonachie.

Perry and I were major fans of the Beatles and word on the street was that John Lennon was back in the studio after staying out of the recording business for about 5 years. And on top of that the band backing John Lennon was Cheap Trick and that seemed exciting. I believe when we were driving back to Saddle Brook we heard (Just Like) Starting Over for the first time. It was pleasant, not much of an edge to it.

It didn’t sound like Cheap Trick but we didn’t know anything back then. When the single became available I duly went out and bought it. It was a fun, out of the ordinary experience working with Perry under the watchful count of the money eyes of Lo Presti and Manzo.

A little over a year later they would be fired after the embezzlement was found out. Apparently it had been going on for a number of years. John McKenna, John Vasicek, Larry Ioli, Tony Grega and Harold Wind were some of the familiar names I knew since my brothers worked there as well as my Mother.

Mom worked with Mary Lynch who was not a nice person after all and until then, she thought Mary Lynch was a friend. They all benefited from the embezzlement and they were all caught and dismissed, luckily without any charges being filed.

Life was simpler then. Ignorance is bliss and I was certainly blissful. AIDS hadn’t made itself known yet so that part of my life was relatively carefree.

In today’s world, Bill is getting ready to hit the road once again, for. Number of days that bleed in weeks. He should be back by Halloween but who knows? Mike is looking to move in while Bill is on the road, but that depends on his availability and the phantom parole officer.

The parole officer calls and says don’t make any plans and so plans are dismissed or shuffled around

Time is slow at my little fruit stand. It is not busy at all and so time just crawls past. And it is a Friday which slows things down immensely. I’m not complaining. I was busy enough all week so this quietude is welcomed, just not as appreciated as it should be.

Hurricane Isias is expected and put the kibosh on the Sunday bike ride.

Photo is of a turnstile jumper