uncategorizable | johnozed

A nice day, not too hot. Nearly perfect actually. Been a busy day. Bill was off from work and had to go to Philadelphia for some reason. He told me and I of course forgot about it. He’s been busy with the stage managing and all that. Last night he came home, had something to eat then went back to his office to do some work for this play he is involved with. I did not stay up, but when he was leaving this morning, he told me he didn’t get back home until 3:00AM. Now that is dedication I suppose.

The play has the potential to be a headache. And since Bill has a day job, he can’t be there for all the rehearsals so that seems to be a problem with the cast. They knew when they hired Bill that he had a day job but still there are some bumps in the road. But Bill is a trouper and is up for the challenge. IN fact he seems to welcome them. He called me from the office last night, a few pieces of paper were left behind and he definitely needed to know what was on them.

I was up and around early enough this morning. No need for the supermarkets, I stayed in until about 1:30 and walked over to the waterfront for some more strumming. I saw Tariq about a block away, he had his guitar and was walking away from the waterfront. Then he went into a store and I just kept going on my way. I figured he might be back but once I was set up and strumming, there was no Tariq to be found. That was alright, I just kept on strumming, causing some toddlers to dance with my guitar playing as they went on their afternoon walks.

I am planning on going back to Pier A tonight. Not to play but to watch a friend of mine play as part of a tribute to Woody Guthrie turning 100 years old. It’s going on before the movie on Pier A. They’re showing The Help tonight. I’m not much interested in seeing that, though if it was the Beatles in Help! I would probably see that, even though I do have the DVD of that at home. Still going out is something to do, since Bill does not expect to be home until midnight.

I did not make any money today as I was busking on the waterfront. I also did not have the guitar case open to invite anyone to throw some change in. I did not have my steno notebook of quick and easy songs to play, though I did have the envelope and wound up playing It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry by Bob Dylan. It didn’t sound half bad I thought. Having the capo helped for sure. No singing once again, just strumming.

A busy day overall. Tomorrow, The Guitar Bar All Stars are playing and I am looking forward to that. Some other things were planned but this is an annual thing that I do and I always enjoy it, plus I get to see the funniest girl alive, Meghan Taylor once again. And of course Lily & Ruby will more than likely be there as well as Mr. Wonderful, Jim Mastro. I wish I could attend that and Lois finishing up her improv class, and I probably could, I just have to try to figure that out. And there is also the barbecue that Tariq invited me to. Can’t do all three, not even sure if I can do two things. We shall see I reckon.

Shake Off The Ghost

It’s been a dreary wet Friday. I did not sleep so well last night and so waking up at the usual time was not going to happen. With the lack of a good night’s sleep and the rain coming down outside, it made getting out of bed a bit of a chore. Still I got it together a little after 9:00 this morning and heading to the kitchen I turned on the TV, surprised to see the dreaded Matt Lauer on around 9:15. There he was talking about a shooting as I made the coffee before jumping in the shower.

A few minutes later I was awake and drying myself off as the coffee maker did its thing. I turned up the volume on the TV, deciding to get my news from someone other than Matt Lauer and found out about the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. 12 dead, maybe 50, maybe 71 injured at a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie. Some nut job with not just one gun but a few including an assault rifle, went into a crowded movie theater, opened up a smoke canister and just started taking people out. Randomly and casually shooting people as they tried to make it to the exits.

Some bullets even went through the theater wall and into the theater next door. Some people thought it was a promotional thing, a guy all dressed up in armor and whatnot bursting through a door and causing mayhem. It wasn’t mayhem, it was carnage, a massacre. Terrible, just terrible. I hate guns. I have never touched a real gun in my life, I don’t like them at all. I have some police officer friends, one time hanging out with one in my Weehawken apartment, his gun on the table. I could touch it he said and I refused.

I did not even like it in the apartment. Bill has a prop gun here and it is so realistic, it freaked me out so much that I had to leave the room. Of course being in a four room railroad apartment I didn’t go far, but still I had to get away from it. I think prior to 1980 I was fairly ambivalent to guns. After the brutal murder of John Lennon in December 1980 I was steadfastly against guns, donating money to various gun control organizations. Things have certainly and steadily gotten worse since that horrible night almost 30 years ago.

I do have some friends that are gun enthusiasts, card carrying members of the National Rifle Association. Usually I am dumbfounded when I hear of my friend’s memberships since I consider them to be more often than not- intelligent. Now we have a 24 year old gun enthusiast/mad man who basically had an arsenal (6000 rounds bought over the internet) of sorts killing men women and children for no good reason. Already there have been murmurs of how it would have turned out differently is someone else had a gun in that darkened smoky movie theater.

Yes it could have turned out differently. There could have been more dead and more wounded. For some people the problem that there are too many guns and are too readily available can be easily solved by introducing more guns. I don’t know if that can be called logic, but it certainly escapes me. Unfortunately, I am somewhat inured to this type of news, hence my hearing about a shooting and going about my usual morning business. Gabrielle Giffords and those victims in Tucson, Columbine. There seems to be too many to mention actually. Everyday offers a new tragedy somewhere in the world and sometimes it is here on our own doorstep.

You send your kids to school, you don’t expect them to be shot.
You go to a midnight movie, you don’t expect to be shot.

America, so much to answer for…

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