Category Archives: Wonderful World Beautiful People

Burning of the Midnight Lamp

Well this starts at rock bottom. Been a good day so far, but now Bill has flown off a handle the size of a aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. A ton of resentment has collapsed upon me. Oh, and we’re about to go out and actually do Karaoke which is beneath Bill.

But he says he’s going to make me happy which right now means putting me through hell in order to get to that happiness.

I myself am exhausted from the Gate Sale which was successful, just four hours but it was tiring. Then I met up with Rand and went over to Roda’s daughter’s first birthday. Her name is Autumn.

Bill said some heinous things once again. I’m no innocent, surely I added to the fire, but reined it in. He was anger on a short leash. All about who cleans up more. I’m pretty sure I do and he’s pretty sure that I’m wrong.

We were supposed to meet up at Rand & Lisa’s since he arranged the whole thing. Some drinks and snacks beforehand. We’re taking a pass on that obviously.

I suppose I wear my emotions on my sleeve whereas Bill’s simmer at a low boil just below the surface and tonight’s match was the concept of going out and doing something fun and silly which Bill feels he is not when he leaves the apartment.

I’ve generally been in a good mood all day, talking to people and selling my past. Bill was upstairs cleaning the apartment in his way while the Lawn Hors d’oeuvre Criminal Mischief marathon played on the TV.

Well we didn’t make it to Rand and Lisa’s beforehand. Things were too ugly, too heated to inflict upon my friends and some of Rand’s family. We caught a bus into the city which at the next stop turned out to be the bus that Rand, Lois spouses and family also got on.

Unfortunately Bill and I were starting to open up on our feelings. Once the others joined us, I saw it a chance to avoid Bill altogether and focus on the other people. And it worked somewhat, once everyone settled in their seats I said that I was glad everyone could make it to the meeting.

Bus ride, subway ride and we were around the block from where I used to work a few months ago. Songs were sung and at one point The Wind Cries Mary came on and no one was singing so I took the mike and did what I thought was a decent cover of Jimi Hendrix.

It helped that I knew the song inside out and knew the inflections of Jimi’s delivery. I surprised myself actually.

A few other songs were sung, You Shook Me All Night Long, Save the Best for Last and Oklahoma are what springs to mind.

I had a good time, but I’m sure it would have been a better time if Bill didn’t have a loud argument beforehand. Spent too much avoiding Bill which did not make for a fun time. For one thing, I didn’t know when it was announced after leaving McSwells on September 12 and walking back with Rand & Lisa and Lois & Fred, that Karaoke might be a fun thing to do and that Bill had horrible times once or twice doing it.

You don’t speak up, how is anyone going to know? To find it out an hour or so beforehand seemed underhanded to me, even after giving him many opportunities to back out.

I also gave him excuse to go though. He mentioned that it might be too expensive for him, though saying that to an unemployed guy while he works a good job was ridiculous.

Bill and I did have a good talk, no raised voices, just the two of us talking in inside voices and each of us explaining why and how they were feeling did help.

Overall it was a good day with a hellish intermission but it definitely could have been a lot better.

Autumn
Roda’s daughter, Autumn

The Wait

It’s Thursday again. Not such a bad day though I didn’t sleep well last night. At the movie with Lois I got popcorn and a diet coke. It was the diet coke that kept me up. Way too much caffeine. I should have known better.

And of course I don’t follow my own advice of getting out of bed if you can’t sleep, but being awake at 2:30 makes me feel guilty about being up so late. I mainly go to bed not because I’m tired but more from thinking that ‘I should be asleep by now.’

Still I got some sleep though not as restful as I had hoped.

Inglourious Basterds was a good movie. Not a knock out but worth seeing. Good revenge on Nazis movie. It veers sharply from history but seeing Hitler getting shot in the face was worth a smirk. It’s more of a fantasy than anything.

If you haven’t seen it in a movie theater you might as well wait for the DVD. Overall I would give it a ‘B+’.

I’m just hanging out right now. I got a phone call from Billie in DC who was just checking in. He asked if I got the birthday card he sent and I said I did. I didn’t really, but it seemed like the thing to say. It was a short phone call and Billie mentioned before it ended that he hoped I could use the money.

I hung up thought to myself, ‘Why did I say yes?’ I didn’t mean to upset Billie basically. I eventually went out to the supermarket and saw I did get a birthday card from Billie, so I did tell the truth though I didn’t know about it initially.

Heard from Juan, nursing a broken heart. All I could tell him was that perhaps Time heals all wounds. He’s truly heartbroken though. Sad to hear him that way.

And now I’ve just gotten back from the world famous Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem USA. Brought my brother Brian, always good to hang out together like this. Lot’s of laughs, no beer. They sold it, much to my surprise but we didn’t realize it until we were in out seats.

Elvis was great, looking like a Beauregard or rather Rhett Butler with a hat like Gable’s and from where we sat, a moustache? Perhaps it was an homage to the Band. It was a taping for Spectacle with… Elvis Costello, with Allen Toussaint, Richard Thompson, Levon Helm and Nick Lowe.

Larry Campbell formerly with Bob Dylan sat in with Elvis and the Imposters (the Attractions sans Bruce Thomas) and Ray LaMontagne sang the Weight at the end.

It was an enjoyable evening, certainly out of the ordinary. Brian had never been to the Apollo before, I was there in the 1980’s to see Boogie Down Productions with DJ Red Alert and Rob Base. It was a Christmas night show, went with Rand and Maurice Menares.

We were at the early show, sitting in the balcony, the negative image of the ants in the sugar bowl. People around us wondered what three white boys were there and we simply told them we were into rap. And we were.

That was a good show and our timing was good since at the later show there was a shooting.

Tonight was good timing as well. Brian made it to Hoboken, caught the Path then an uptown express. Had to wait online outside the theater for a while but that was fine, good to catch up with Brian. The show was entertaining and an interesting look at how a show like Spectacle is put together.

One can only imagine Victor Spinetti in the control booth.

Since Ray LaMontagne suddenly appeared and sang The Weight, they had to redo it with a proper introduction for LaMontagne. Brian and I split, caught an express back downtown where we found a Path train back to Hoboken waiting for us.

As soon as we took our seats the doors closed and we were en route. Good karma. Saw Brian off on a train to the hinterlands of Bergen County.

A good night with a good friend, my brother Brian.
Apollo Marquee

photo by Brian