Category Archives: So how’s band camp?

Rock With You

A beautiful day but a bit too warm. After days of cold and damp 50 degree weather in a 24 hour period the temperature rises up to near 90. Crazy. But it wasn’t raining. I ran into old friend Jason Stasium once again. As I was leaving the supermarket there was Jason pushing his beautiful daughter in a stroller. He saw me first. We chatted for a while, about the cigar shop (when I last saw Jason I was working with Shlomo and company). I filled him in on the McSwell’s debacle and we had a few laughs about that.

He suggested contacting another old friend about checking to see if they knew anything. I was thinking more about Juan than myself. Juan is back to pounding the pavement. You’ll have to read his story in his blog located in the blog roll on the right. Then I came home to find a note on the door. The building handyman asked me to call him when I got home, so that is what I did. Apparently the Russian family in the apartment below me and Bill left and there is water damage in that bathroom.

The handyman came by and asked me to run all the water, sink, bath tub and toilet all at the same time. He ran downstairs and could not see anything happening while the water ran for about 5 minutes. The tub hasn’t overflowed and neither has the sink. . It’s an old building with old pipes and no one has a clue on what’s going on.

A nice breeze just wafted in through the window. Humidity sets in and it’s hummus everywhere in Hoboken. Bill is off in Philadelphia on an excursion once again involving a bus. He’s been driving a lot lately which prevents the problem of both of us being around all the time getting in each other’s way and on each other’s nerves. Bill is due back on Friday so that should be cool. I will hear all about his day via a phone call later on tonight I reckon.
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Baby’s On Fire

Well yesterday was a very good day. Of course there were some rough spots, but they only help one appreciate the smooth spots. Bill was home in the morning after driving all night and that seems to be the way of things around here lately. I did hear from Juan in his usual charming text: ‘Lunch today. Pick a time’. I told him that I would be in the city. I set about my day getting laundry done and basically talking with Bill. I was in no rush to go out and have lunch and take away from my own time schedule.

I did head in a little later that I expected, soon after Bill headed into the city. I took the Path train in and I got off at Ninth Street. I decided to walk down Tenth Street which turned out to be quite pleasant. I walked over to the Cooper Union and asked about picking up my ticket from ‘will call’. Anything to save some money instead of paying the service charge to mail the ticket to me, which is what I should have done in the first place. I was told to come back at 6:00 and it was a little after 4:00.

So I wandered around the East Village. I had some pizza at Stromboli at 1st and St. Mark’s Place but it was not as good as I remembered. Then I walked over to St. Mark’s Bookshop, all the time totally ignoring St. Mark’s Place which I used to enjoy. I bought a copy of Uncut magazine and headed out into the bright spring day. I sat in some shade and read Uncut as I smoked a cigar and anxiously ran down the clock which was certainly taking it’s time. At 5:55 I made my move.

On the other side of the Cooper Union building was a line. I asked the head of the line if it was for will call or whatnot and the guy replied it was for everything. I walked over and got on the end of the line which was not the end of the line for long. Two guys in front of me kept letting their friends join them on line and it went from four people and stopping at eleven people jumping into the line. Behind me other people were doing the same. I played my iPod so I would not have to listen to them.

Finally the line started moving and I was inside. The great hall were the lecture was taking place is below street level and it is where Abraham Lincoln made a famous speech. I found an empty seat right next to a column, giving me a sightline to see Brian Eno but the other columns in the hall cut off half the screens positioned on either side of the stage. Brian Eno came out and the discussion was all about his life basically, Eno narrating the slides as he went along.

He was genial and self-effacing and also running behind schedule which he mentioned a couple of times. He didn’t rush things but he may have skipped a few slides. It was a lot of fun and over soon enough. On the way out we were handed posters of a painting of Brian Eno and I duly grabbed one. I would have grabbed one for Chaz but they were quite tight with the free posters.

I hurriedly walked back to the Path train since there was a plan to meet up with Juan to see Youth Lagoon at Maxwell’s. Juan hipped me to them last week and they sounded intriguing enough to check them out. My phone battery was low so I texted Juan about that and that I would check again when I got back to NJ.

No text from Juan. A few more texts from me and the only response I got from him was that he forgot all about the show and we would meet up Tuesday and I could tell him all about it. It was infuriating since I hustled to get back to see the show at Maxwell’s. It was one of the last straws regarding Juan. He’s back with Nimrod, famed grammar school principal and part time amateur crystal meth addict. I only know this from what Juan has told me.

On Juan’s Facebook page, Nimrod, famed grammar school principal and part time amateur crystal meth addict labeled me a ‘stalker’ as I have been stalking Juan. That was infuriating, especially since I knew Juan a lot longer than Nimrod, famed grammar school principal and part time amateur crystal meth addict. Actually I do not think Nimrod is a part time amateur crystal meth addict since Juan described him as being able to do crystal meth and then go to sleep. He seems to be more of a veteran crystal meth user, which I am sure is great if you’re tweaking and have to oversee ‘approximately 430 very special young people learn and grow’ the next school day.

I did think about posting that when Juan first tearfully called me (near hysteria on 3/4/2013) a number of weeks ago after Nimrod kicked him out of the house. Juan sent me a few photographs of their crystal meth stash, Nimrod medications and the syringes they had been using to shoot up the crystal meth. Juan wanted me to hang onto the pictures should anything happen to him. I should have posted the pictures when Juan came back to Union City or at least when Juan went back to Nimrod and had another fight where Juan punched Nimrod’s rearview mirror.


Juan wanted Nimrod busted as well as Nimrod’s nearby crystal meth dealer. I didn’t know the whole story then and sort of gave Nimrod the benefit of the doubt. I still don’t know the whole story, but I know I am not a stalker but that I do have some difficulty correctly spelling school administrators surnames on occasion.

I did go to Maxwell’s to see Youth Lagoon whom Juan told me about last week. I am glad I went, they were very good. They looked as if they could. They were able to pull off their sound on stage which was quite impressive.
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This was as close as I got and that's fine since I did work with Brian Eno almost 20 years ago.

This was as close as I got and that’s fine since I did work with Brian Eno almost 20 years ago.

I think next time I will honor Juan’s request and post photographs of Nimrod’s prescriptions from Bayshore Pharmacy in the Atlantic Highlands. See the posting featuring Tina the Tiger and a grammar school principal!
from 3/4/2013 (when Spider Juan tearfully and franticaly sent me the pictures)

I am the worst stalker ever despite what the grammar school principal Nimrod says.
Juan asks me to go to a gay bar (ostensibly to meet guys) and I say no.
Juan wants to have lunch and I say no.
Juan wants to go to Target & the Newport Mall and I say no.
Juan wants to stop by (and of course those that are stalked ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS stop by their stalkers place) etc. How did Nimrod become a school principal? Whom did he perform oral sex on?
I guess it’s better to be a tweaking school administrator than an impotent and inept detective.

Typical stalker behavior:
HIM: “Do you want to go to a bar with me?” ME: No.
HIM: “Lets have lunch- Pick the time.” ME: No.
HIM: “I have to go to Target and then the mall. Wanna come?” ME: No.

Then again if I was tweaking all the time I might have a warped perspective on things too.

So all the photos Spider Juan sent are posted on the date that Spider Juan tearfully and frantically sent them to me, March 4, 2013.
Cut n’ paste.
https://johnozed.com/?p=16074