Hopelessly banal with a slathering of ennui | johnozed

Oh it has been one of those days. Once again it has been quite hot, 98 degrees. I spent most of the day inside, fighting the blues mostly. The past two days have been fairly active what with bicycle riding on Tuesday and hitting the galleries in Chelsea yesterday. Today there was none of that. Too damn hot basically. I kept busy, I did some laundry and shaved. I think this weekend I will go and get my hair chopped off since it is so damn thick it’s like wearing a fur hat and makes for a sweaty night of sleep.

According to Bill I have been quite chatty as I sleep at night. He keeps saying that he will record what I say and I do want to know what it is that I say, but on the other hand perhaps I don’t. Last night I had a long conversation with myself apparently as I lay under a fan. And it was so hot that I woke up before the alarm clock after Bill gave his farewell kiss to me. I stumbled about the hot apartment, finding the cool water to be just as good as a cup of coffee which was brewing in the next room.

I did some laundry and where it sometimes takes 24 hours for it to dry on the racks, today it was merely a few hours before the clothes were wearable once more. A trip to the supermarket, (the closer one) and the dry cleaners have been my only excursions outdoors today. That is going to change in about a half hour when I go see a few bands with people that I know playing in them, by the Hudson River as part of the summer series that Hoboken has each year.

I expect that there will be a few people I know watching the bands play. A Thousand Pities, East of Venus and Yung Wu are playing and my former guitar teacher is in two of the bands. The other band features some of the Feelies including everyone’s favorite drummer, Stan. It should be fun and believe me, I will be more than happy to be outside, hoping it will be cooler by the river. I finally started reading the Los Bros. Hernandez books. I was going to return them on my way to the show, but I glanced inside the Maggie the Mechanic book and was immediately drawn back in.

I do have to stop at the bibliothèque anyhow. A DVD of the Elephant Man is waiting for me as is the latest Me’Shell Ndegeocello CD. I was reading about John Hurt the other day, Chesterfield John Hurt, not Mississippi John Hurt and figured The elephant Man might be good for the soul. I had seen it already and also saw it on Broadway when David Bowie played the title role. We had first row seats for that and during the curtain call the fans behind us gave David a bouquet, which David was kind enough to thank us for, to the dismay of the fans who actually gave him the flowers.

I may write more later after the show but for now, this is it.

A Gallon of Gas

It’s been quite a beautiful day, no rain, sun shining, nice warm temperature and a cool breeze every now and then. I’ve been busy, up early, running around Hoboken. Bill was up way earlier than me, out before 6:00 this morning to make it to the gym. He’s lost quite a bit of weight and is looking very good. He gave the now customary kiss goodbye, telling me that I looked good as I lay there looking like crap. If that’s not love, then I don’t know what love is. Of course there is more to it than that, but it was a good line that I couldn’t pass up.

Last night before Bill went to bed so early, after watching Michael Eric Dyson filing in for Ed Shultz, we watched Purple Rain. Both of us had seen it before, and both of us loved it. It is truly a 1980’s movie. Prince was great, the Revolution was great and the Time stole the movie. No wonder Prince was so bothered by the fact that the Time stole the show opening up for Prince on the 1999 tour, that he had them playing off stage while Vanity 6 wound up opening.

I saw Prince & the Revolution on the Purple Rain tour. It was an Easter matinee out at the Nassau Coliseum and I went with Rand, his roommate Andrew, their neighbor Ken as well as Debbie Robinson who I worked with and the daughter of a woman that worked with my mom. Me and the guys all dipped into some lysergic and the girls didn’t know, especially since the daughter of the woman that worked with my mom had a police officer for a father. It was a great show from what I remember but what I really remember is the car ride back.

Instead of taking the Long Island Expressway we decided to take a more scenic route, taking he roads rather than the highway. The girls were oblivious and the driver was cautious, getting them home safely to Saddle Brook NJ, then heading to Hoboken where we stuffed ourselves with pizza at the pizzeria no one eats at anymore, then to Maxwells to continue our giggles through the night. Of course, being chemically enhanced all sense of time was distorted and though it seemed relatively early, it was actually pretty late, so much that we closed Maxwells and wound up at Rand & Andrew’s apartment across the street.

I saw Prince a few times since then, the last time being just a year or so ago, and before that in 1988 on the Lovesexy tour. I went the first time with Chaz and Kathe, having seats right above the floor. Great show once again, stage in the middle of the arena. Sheila E was playing drums at that time. It was such a good time I had to go again the next night. But I had no tickets. I did have a contact at Warner Brothers and was able to score one ticket.

The seat was all the way on top in the nosebleed section and after sitting where I was the night before, this location just wouldn’t do. Somehow I developed balls and since I was alone I decided to move. I would walk around the arena, each circle getting me closer to the floor. I would stand at the gate and watch the show until an usher would say I couldn’t stay there. Sometimes the usher would ask for my ticket and I would show them and they would point to the ceiling saying that was where I should be.

The show had an intermission and thanks to my persistent moving I wound up on the main floor in the hallway when people stretched their legs and whatnot. I ran into someone I knew who had floor seats, like 15th row from the stage and he told me to stay where I was as he headed back to his seat. A few minutes later he had a friend’s stub which got me on the floor when the second half started and since everyone was dancing and having a good time, no one was paying attention to their assigned seating.

It was a good time and a good show. No lysergic needed.
In between the Madison Square Garden shows was an early morning show at Roseland Ballroom. I certainly felt like I was tripping but I wasn’t that morning…

01 the beautiful ones