30° in Hoboken on a Monday night. It was a weird day. Started off with Mike calling way too early for me to answer when the phone is on ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode. Between the two 60-somethings sharing a bed, a night of uninterrupted sleep is a fleeting goal.

Bill heard my phone vibrate, I did not. Somehow his sleep was disturbed where mine was not. And that’s how the day started. He was in a mood when he woke up which rubbed off on me. I did contact Mike to tell him not to call me at that time but to text instead. Whether or not that is a solution remains to be seen.

Bill and I were in separate rooms, he was doing his thing and I was doing mine. No animosity just recovering from interrupted sleep. He did take a nap. I started watching Homicide: Life on the Street. I loved the show when it was on in the Nineties.

A Friday night event for me. Great characters, story, and script. It didn’t really catch on with the general public but it got along with seven seasons. I remember making a friend when I was working at Arista Records, Kim Cozzens.

I was out on the sidewalk enjoying a Gauloises roll-up and spoke with Kim who worked on the other side of the floor I worked on. We talked about Homicide quite a bit while I was at Arista.

That was over 25 years ago.
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. It was a different time.

I was living in Weehawken. Now I am in Hoboken. I lived in Weehawken for 11 years. Now in Hoboken for 22, going on 23 years. I first moved to Hoboken in 1984. Initially, I moved into a mosquito-infested illegal loft for a month.

Then I moved back home and out again a few months later. This time was 201 Madison Street. The neighborhood featured burned-out buildings which made my Mother cry when she drove down my street.

After 201 Madison I was at 1124 Willow, a basement apartment which I shared with Jimmy Lee. It was a great situation, Jimmy was at his girlfriend’s flat about 28 days a month. It was filthy, improperly ventilated and in the basement. The doors didn’t quite lock and It was surprising that no one ever broke in, though I did have a late-night visitor come through my window.

1124 Willow turned into 216 Madison, down the street from where I originally moved. That was with Kevin Craughn. It was not the ideal situation, it was more like a safety net that was torn and frayed. I moved after being there for maybe a year or two to 710 Jefferson.

That lasted a month or so, my Mother died in May of that year and I moved to Lodi again, thinking this time might be better. It wasn’t and by October of 1991, I had moved to 127 Jane Street in Weehawken.

3 days later. It is a Sunday and it is 38°. The sky is white after a major snowfall yesterday. Today it’s supposed to go up to 48° and there will be rain. Most of the snow that has fallen has melted away making things foggy. Manhattan cannot be seen, and Jersey City is obscured too.

Friday I took a bus ride to Mike’s crib. It was a good time, photographs and cigars among other things. Arty photographs. Mike is a breath of fresh air and in some ways, he’s like a kid. His enthusiasm for most things is contagious and that’s always welcome.

I stayed longer than expected but it was no big deal. He worried about my getting home safely but thanks to the Lyft driver it was an enjoyable ride. The driver, seemingly in his 20s was playing Latin music from the 50’s which happens to be the era of Latin music that I enjoy the most. For each song that played, I pulled out my phone to identify the song and the artist and then opened on YouTube so I could have it in my viewing history.

And at Mike’s insistence, I called him once I got home. I was starving and cooked dinner for Bill and myself. Despite it being Friday I made my Saturday night supper, Pasta (fusilli), Pesto, and chicken. I think the meal had greatly improved, each week adding something to it and both Bill and I agreed that it was exceptional, almost.

The scheduling was rearranged since Mike was coming over on Saturday to watch movies with Bill and me and then sleep on the couch so he could walk to work from here in the morning. We watched Passing Strange which Bill and I saw at the Public Theater 18 years ago. Susan and Lois from Farfetched suggested we see it and so we followed their suggestion.

We loved it, it was funny and moving and the music was excellent. It moved to Broadway soon after that and Spike Lee made a movie of the stage show in it’s last days before closing. I had forgotten how good it was and the sadness hit home. Mike loved it and was engrossed, asking Bill questions about how shows are run.

Coleman Domingo was in it, he stood out since we’ve become fans in the past year or so. That’s not to lessen the talent of the rest of the cast who seem to have done well for themselves in the years following. I didn’t realize it then, or maybe I did, that the Black cast was playing White in the Amsterdam/Berlin scenes.

After watching the extras on the DVD Bill went to sleep and Mike and I watched part of the Rocky Horror Picture Show which Mike had seen years ago on VH1 and loved it. That surprised me, his love for a show such as that. He told me he watched it with members of his family one Halloween years ago and it had become a family favorite.

Soon he too was snoring as he slept and I got into bed with Bill. 6:00 AM arrived soon enough, I got up to see Mike on his way and give him an umbrella from the Alger years. I went back to bed and now here I am, off to run some errands with a groggy Bill. Quite a few things I would like to see this afternoon, hopefully, Bill will be awake enough to join me.