Category Archives: the day after yesterday

Coming in From the Cold

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Well it has finally happened and as I write this my eyes are welling up with tears. Barack Hussein Obama is now the 44th President of the United States of America. Truly a historic event whether or not you like him and whether or not you voted for him. For me, I never felt as connected as I do to this country like I did today.

The day started with me waking up with some difficulty. Apparently I shut off the alarm clock, but the back up alarm on my cellphone did it’s job, jarring me awake with what I call Housewife’s Choice. That’s an old Ska song and it’s not the ringtone but it’s how my mind identified it this morning.

I shuffled through the apartment and I made it to the bus a little later than usual. A different crowd but at around 8:00 there are many coach buses coming down Washington Street so it wasn’t too crowded and quite comfortable. Made it to work a little after 9:00, a bit treacherous since I wore dress shoes and the sidewalks were a bit dodgy.

I took my time and picked up a bagel since it was going to be a long morning, even though for me it was a 3 hour morning at work. I wasn’t sure where I was going to watch the swearing in of President Barack Obama but I was determined to watch it somewhere.

One of the subtenants and I somehow got into a discussion about religion and I revealed that since 9/11 I was an atheist. Before that I was an agnostic. He seemed alarmed by this and seemed to be trying to convert me back into the world of theism.

I resisted as he told me of his problems getting an annulment for his first marriage so he could marry his second wife in a catholic church. I soon walked away from that chat and decided to go to Rockefeller Center to watch the Inauguration.

I tried to get my former co-worker Steve or another subtenant, Trudy to go with me but Steve had other plans and Trudy was stuck at her desk. At 11:30 I headed over, telling Tom Chin & Greg Stevens what I was up to. I had their go ahead, but I think they realized that they really couldn’t stop me.

I lit up a celebratory Padron and headed west towards Fifth Avenue. It wasn’t as crowded as I thought, though there was a few thousand people between the screens on 49th and 50th streets where the Christmas tree usually stands.

I got there in time to hear pRick Warren’s invocation and thankfully it was short, painless and oh so easily ignored. My stress for the past weeks was unneeded.

We The People

We The People

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Aretha Franklin singing 'My Country Tis of Thee'

Aretha Franklin singing 'My Country Tis of Thee'

I found a spot at the edge of 30 Rock, in front of the J. Crew window and took various snapshots of the crowd and the screens. A woman stood next to me and I saw her leaning forward to see who was smoking a cigar. I hoped she wasn’t offended by the aroma and when I took a puff she noticed it was me smoking.

‘Oh you’re smoking the cigar. It smells good.’ I told her I was hoping that she wouldn’t be bothered by it and she said she wasn’t. ‘My father used to smoke cigars and it brings back memories so keep smoking!’ And so I did.

The President was sworn in, stumbling a bit when Chief Justice John Roberts messed up his bit, throwing Obama off his mark. Both recovered and concluded while I recorded the oath of office on the screen and followed by shouting Yes! Yes! On the clip I sound quite butch I think. Still my eyes had teared up.

The crowd quickly dispersed but about a hundred of us stayed for Elizabeth Alexanders poem, ‘Praise Song for the Day’ which was beautiful. The Reverend Lowery said his benediction which was somewhat funny and it was enjoyable to hear from a cleric who doesn’t have an air of pomposity.

The poet, Elizabeth Miller, 'Praise Song for the Day'

The poet, Elizabeth Alexander, 'Praise Song for the Day'

The Star Spangled Banner was sung by a choral group from a branch of the armed forces and I sang along with my fedora doffed and placed over my heart. First time I had ever done that. My feet were near frozen from standing and not moving much for an hour in the freezing cold so I stomped around a bit as I headed back to the office.

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Before I did that, I needed to go to the Post Office to buy stamps. It was very crowded and I got on a short line for stamp and started chatting with the woman in front of me.

She too had seen the inauguration on TV and was thrilled by the history that was unfolding before her eyes. She asked if I thought if a DVD of today’s event would be for sale and I assured her that it probably would be.

Came back to the office and spoke with Trudy to see if she saw it. She mentioned that she walked over to the subtenants area to watch the inauguration and was dismayed to see them sitting there with the sound turned really low and not enjoying what was going on.

She was bothered enough by their non-reaction to history that she went back to her cube and watched it on CNN online. I told her that some people were sad to see the last 8 years end, and here were 5 of those people.

I set about doing work at my desk as my feet thawed when I heard one of the conservative subtenants say something about Obama’s lies. I wasn’t going to sit or stand for that and mentioned that at least he wasn’t lying about weapons of mass destruction.

One of their co-workers, a fence sitter who sometimes is a democrat and sometimes is a republican said that it would be no use trying to talk some sense to the guy who said what he said. Me, being me, as if I could be someone else, said, yeah well I just got my shoes shined and I don’t want to step in any shit.

The day ended and I came home still feeling high from everything that happened previously in the day. Turned on the TV, went to C Span where the parade was on, just missing the LGBT contingent by seconds. From what I heard, the broadcast networks and cable networks cut away from the LGBT marching band.

Still what I saw was impressive enough to make me want to be there, marching in front of the President of the United States of America, with or without the Junior Rifle Squad. Preferably without since those spats we had to wear were a bitch. Just an unforgettable day, with a lot of work to do, and a lot of people to put to work.

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The cause is ennobled, the concept is higher

Oomingmak

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It’s Saturday. And it’s freezing outside. Right now, according to the New York Times it’s 18 degrees. That’s 11 degrees more than it was when I woke up this morning. Still alive, carbon monoxide detectors are doing their job and not beeping. That’s a good thing I think.

Last night was a quiet night, just me and some Bushmills. Perfect for a winter night, some sipping. I watched Elvis Costello’s TV show on the Sundance Channel, Spectacle. Watched 2 episodes. The first featured the Police, Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland.

The first time I heard the Police was in 1978, riding to school in Scott Miskuff’s car. It was his brother’s 8 track actually and to my ears it sounded like Boston was doing reggae. I don’t know why I thought that, especially since they don’t sound like that at all.

Roxanne was the big hit and they were considered Punk so I eventually bought it. It was ok, their better record was the second album, Regatta de Blanc. I was more into Elvis Costello at the time so when he was putting down the Police, I paid even less attention to them.

Elvis: I just wish Sting would stop singing in his cod Jamaican accent.
Sting: I wish Elvis Costello would stop singing in his cod American accent.
Meow!

Now they are all nice nice. It was ok. Andy Summers in now 79 years old, Stewart Copeland is a gangly goofy father of 7, and Sting has gotten handsomer and his voice carries a resonance it never had 30 years ago. The Watching the Detectives/Walking on the Moon medley was adequate.

After the Police I watched Elvis Costello with Rufus Wainwright. That was ok. Rufus to me, came off like a 30 something gay guy from Manhattan, which is exactly what he is. He did part of Memphis Skyline which is his song about the late Jeff Buckley and a complete version of My Phone’s on Vibrate for You which was great as it always is when Rufus hit’s that high note.

He really is a good singer songwriter. He’s playing the Wellmont Theater in Montclair in a month or so, just him and his piano. His half sister Lucy Wainwright Roche is opening so I guess there will be a duet or two. I’m not going. Not in the budget you see.

Like I said, when I woke up it was 7 degrees outside. Bitterly cold, I walked outside, past Mr. L’s. I was due for a haircut but I didn’t have enough cash on me. I went and got bagels instead and stopped by Alexander Lopez’s apartment and talked with his dad.

It had been about a month since I last saw Alexander so he had completely forgotten about me, making me this exotic thing in a leather coat in the middle of his kitchen. Julio was telling me that Alexander weighs 22 pounds now and wears the clothing of a 12 month old. He’s only 8 months old. It was good to see them. Stine was in the shower and I only saw her briefly, clad in a bathrobe.

After doing laundry I decided to head into the city and visit Farfetched. Lois and Harpy were working and it was busy. Not much left in the store, everything was up for sale, sometimes with an 80% discount.

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Lois & Harpy

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That didn’t stop people from trying to haggle. Things that were on sale for $50.00 were marked down to $10.00 and that was still too much money for some people. Some woman wearing a big ass fur coat was the Marvin Hagler when I was there. And she wasn’t marvelous.

For me it was a bittersweet visit. I got a bib for Alexander and some cards as well as a Wicked Witch of the West key chain that has Margaret Hamilton’s voice cackling, saying ‘How about some fire Scarecrow?’ among other things.

It was too cold to enjoy a Padron and walk up to 33rd street so I made a beeline to the 14th street Path station. I also bought Elton John’s Madman Across the Water for $5.00 in the soon to be shuttered Virgin mega store on Union Square, next to the rapidly closing Circuit City.

Also picked up Bon Iver, whom I saw on Letterman last month and posted their appearance on this blog. While walking around I was playing Bob Frank and John Murry, World Without End. That’s a album of murder ballads, each and every one quite gruesome, but it sounds amazing.

I bought that last night using the iTunes gift card my brother Brian and his family gave me over the holidays last month. I heard one song by Bob Frank and John Murry sometime last year and it was really good and when I picked up the latest issue of Uncut and saw they had another track on the free CD I decided to dive in and buy the album.

Like I said, it’s gruesome, hearing them sing, ‘He cut her throat and gutted her insides’. Basically they took murder stories from the past 100 years and put them to some down home country tinged music. Murder ballads aren’t new at all, a strain of folk music for the past century.

Worth checking out I think, both Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever ago and Bob Frank and John Murry- World Without End.

Also bought a new CO detector and got a haircut from Tony at Mr. L’s. He once again outdid himself, trimming gray hairs from my goatee, trimming my nose and ear hair as well as trimming my eyebrows. He earns his tip every time.

Bill is quite ill right now, laid up in Stuyvesant Town with a fever and sore throat. That sounds like what I had back in October. I hope to go see him tomorrow and on the way I’ll pick up some chicken soup from a Chinese kitchen on the way. A quart or two for Bill and his mother.

It’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow they say. Could make it into the 20 degree range. Almost beach weather.

Add my friend Billie in Washington DC to the unemployment rolls. He invited Bill and myself to stay with him if we wanted to go to the inauguration, but I said thanks but no thanks. It’s going to be too cold and very crowded. I can watch it on TV.