Category Archives: Interesting Things as of Late

isn’t it all?

And Through the Wire

Leave a reply

It’s Thursday, this much I know. Vivek returned to work, quite happy. The office was buzzing. Told Larry Stooge that I wrote a diary everyday. He asked if it was a blog and I said no. Really no need for him snooping. Trying to keep it on the down low. It was a productive day. I found out that Lydia is an illegal worker. She really shouldn’t be working in the office, but she is. She’s getting paid off the books so no one is the wiser. It’s an interesting folly. I didn’t hire her, so I’m not going to get caught in the sweep, if there is any sweeping to be done.

I heard from Juan who is in Costa Rica. He instant messaged me while I was away and since he only had internet access for about 10 minutes I missed him. I hope he’s having a good time. He’s been gone for almost a week I think, but it seems like he’s been gone for a longer time than that. Probably because when he’s at school or nearby we still communicate via email, instant messages or phone, so it’s like he’s around one way or another.

I haven’t heard from Song who from what I gathered was in Taiwan last I checked. Perhaps he’s on his way back to Sydney. I totally missed him when he was in the area. I think I was supposed to call him back, but I never did, being in such a foul mood and Song being such a nice guy, it might have been all for the best. I hope Song is the forgiving type. I know Juan isn’t. Juan is the condemning type, hence his charm.

Thanks to Bill involving me in Facebook once again, as John Ozed in case you’re interested, I found an old friend, Kelvin Joyner. I’ve known Kelvin on and off about 10 years. He used to work for a cartage company when I was working at Right Track Recording. He’s a real sweetheart, he’s had his troubles as have we all. He had a band back in the nineties, I think the working name was All Mighty. He asked me to play keyboards for them and I explained that I don’t play keyboards, but that was why he asked.

He knew I had a musical ear and with the right instrument I might be able to bring it out. I was game so I sat in on a few practices. It was perhaps the height of my Brian Eno infatuation so wearing the hat of a non-musician I played admirably, dispensing clavinet sounds as well as Eno-esque philosophies like, ‘it’s not what you play, it’s what you don’t play that matters’. Pretentious, yes? Well the band lasted about a month, I played with them a few times, before they disbanded or just kept playing and not telling me what was going on.

Still years later, I look back with fondness on Kelvin giving me the chance to sound like Jerry Harrison on certain Talking Heads tracks. I have some tapes somewhere, and I think I sounded pretty good, not great. They did cover one song, Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix, which I didn’t know at all then, but thanks to Kelvin’s enthusiasm, I eventually got into Jimi. Kelvin does have a band again, a three piece from what I could tell from his myspace page. Look him up, Kelvin Joyner, and give a listen to his songs. So that is where it’s at today, January 10, 2008. Crazy innit?

Take a Chance on Me

Leave a reply

Well it’s Wednesday and I thought for a while this afternoon that it was Tuesday. I don’t know why. I’m ok now, obviously, it’s is Wednesday. I just have to keep telling myself that. Bill was here last night, rambunctious like an 8 year old which is fun then I start to feel like a parent with an overactive child with no car for the kid to sit in while I shop. It was cute, then irritation, and then when I thought about it, and thought about Bill, it became cute again. Most of the time, I just have to step back and think about how I’d miss things like this if Bill wasn’t around.

So I enjoy it while he is, or just ignore it until he goes to bed. I guess in these ways I am a parent. He does have a childish innocence and he possesses such a pure joy which I sometimes which I had instead of being jaded and cynical. That’s something I have to work on in the upcoming year. Can optimism be had once it’s gone? I guess we’ll find out, or at least I’ll find out and write about it and tell you later. That’s optimistic isn’t it? Bill once again was up before me and left me with a kiss before he headed off to work.

I stumbled into the shower, grateful to see that Bill made some coffee for me, taking one minute of of my morning routine which made a difference, allowing precious seconds to improve my hygiene. Once again it was 50 something degrees and once again I was smart enough to leave behind the winter coat and just go to work in a suit and tie. Quite a few people had been bundled up considerably, hats, scarves, gloves. They must have been really sweaty dressed like that. I know I was on Monday when I went to work dressed with my overcoat, but not today.

I listened to Television, Marquee Moon on the way through Bryant Park and Grand Central Station. I really liked to listen to it this morning, for some reason a few months ago I couldn’t stand to. Don’t know why, it is a classic record and I learned how to play guitar listening to some songs on it. Don’t think I remember the chords now, but with a few hours practice I’m sure I could figure it out. But who has the time? And the concept of forming a band fades into the distance more and more. I can’t even find anyone to jam with.

On my Manhunt profile, I took a chance and removed most of the sexual things I might be looking for and basically put an ad up saying that I was looking for someone to jam with. Got one reply from some guy in town who likes to play guitar nude. Whatever, I just want to play guitar or bass. I have both instruments you know. True, posting a music ad on a hookup site isn’t necessarily the thing that will guarantee results, but then again the sex angle wasn’t working that well anyhow.

I should have taken that as a tip. No one wants to play with me either sexually nor musically. I can always do it myself I suppose, musically. Most everyone knows I can do the sexual bit on my own, par excellence. Bill could engineer a session, he does have the recording equipment, keyboards and a drum machine which is just fine by me. Somewhere down the line, perhaps we’ll find time to do such a thing. Until then I wish you all a good day, or a good night. See ya!