Hard Luck Story

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Haven’t done this in a while. iTunes Shuffle time. Not much to write about today that I hadn’t written about before.

These Things Take Time- The Smiths
I don’t know if this is from an album but it is from the compilation Louder Than Bombs. I enjoyed the Smiths. I saw them once with Hiroaki Kimura on their first US tour at the Beacon Theater and once again to enjoy a show at the Beacon, it all depends on the seats. We were in the upper balcony and we both found The Smiths to be dull. We left before the encore and went over to the east side to hang out with Andrew Feldman who was working at some restaurant as a cook. That was more enjoyable than The Smiths.

No Dancing- Elvis Costello
From My Aim Is True, his first album. Not with the Attractions but with Clover sans Huey Lewis. Obviously they’re going for a Be My Baby/Phil Spector feel. Phil Spector was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the murder of Lana Clarkson. It’s a good Elvis Costello album, not my favorite as I preferred his work with the Attractions, except for Goodbye Cruel World which was the worst.

Manhattan- Carmen Cavallaro
From the Mighty Aphrodite soundtrack. I got this as a gift from my sister a few years ago. Still quite good to listen to, especially on a Sunday morning, reading the papers and drinking coffee. I know my parents would have liked to hear me playing this. Marianne Faithfull covers this on her Strange Weather album. Carmen Cavallaro’s version is an instrumental. Cavallaro was known as the Poet of the Piano, and his style was modelled on Eddy Duchin, another name my parents would have recognized. Carmen Cavallaro died in 1989.

Red Paint- Neneh Cherry
A very good, and ultimately very sad song from Neneh Cherry’s second and last release in the US, Homebrew. Rand turned me onto this record and for years it was available in the cut out bins. It did not do well at all but I prefer it to her worldwide smash, Buffalo Stance. I believe the lyric is about how a boyfriend went to the store on his bike and was murdered and the assailant fled with his footprints in the boyfriend’s blood which resembled Red Paint. The album closer, accompanied by police sirens. It is a very good song, possibly a desert island song. I played it for Juan a few months ago and I think he dug it too.

Beauty and the Beast- David Bowie
From the Heroes album. First song on the album, classic song, totally off the wall. I loved playing this when I would DJ at McSwells. Reportedly the line ‘Someone fetch a priest’ was originally ‘Someone fuck a priest’ which was a phrase that Brian Eno was proud of then. RCA balked and they changed it. Robert Fripp is on it too.

You’re All I Need To Get By- Aretha Franklin
Classic Lady Soul. Oh Aretha sounds fantastic. The band behind her is great, the Sweet Inspirations singing back up. Jerry Wexler, Tom Down and Arif Mardin produced it, Arif doing the arrangement. It is as good as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s version, but Aretha makes it her own. I bet you that’s the late King Curtis on saxophone too. She is the Queen of Soul, now and forever. Aretha’s 30 Greatest Hits is a must have. ♫Yeah ♪

Listen to Her Heart- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
That Classic Rickenbacker sound. Actually the first Tom Petty song I heard. You think you’re gonna take her away/with your money and your cocaine. Great line. I like Tom Petty. He gets my respect. I would shake his hand if I ever met him. Seems like a righteous dude. The Peter Bogdanovich documentary on Tom Petty is worth checking out if you have 3.5 hours to spare. WPIX FM used to play this a lot,which is how I first heard it. This is from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits.

Miss Chatelaine- k.d. lang
Oh k.d., such a voice, such a presence. Her finest album, Ingenue. Her worldwide smash hit. I can still listen to this from start to finish. This was a hit single for her, or at least it got lot’s of play on the jukebox at McSwells when the jukebox still played 45’s from Pier Platters.

Cool for Cats- Squeeze
Yet another WPIX song. Chris Difford sings this one. It’s also the first Squeeze song that I knew. I did my best to sing along cockney style while working in the book warehouse. I used to have my boom box all the time playing different songs. They probably all thought I was insane and an idiot since I could never fill out an invoice properly. I should have been fired I’m sure, but my mother was so well loved they would look the other way. Singing this loudly in a faux cockney slang did not make me a punk rocker though you know I tried.

Madeline, 1976- Bob Frank and John Murry
From World Without End. A collection of murder ballads. I first heard Bob Frank & John Murry on a free disc from one of the UK magazines I get every month. The song on it was beautiful and atmospheric and the lyrics were quite gruesome. Haven’t played this one that much but it really is worth a listen to. I bought it on iTunes. Frank and Murry are from out west somewhere. I think I would check them out if they ever came east of the Mississippi.

Jigsaw Feeling- Siouxsie & the Banshees
Great song from their first album, The Scream. I saw Siouxsie & the Banshees a handful of times. She’s a dynamic presence. This is my favorite album by them. I played this constantly. I heard it constantly coming back from the East Village in the back of Laszlo Papp’s Dodge Charger. Back then if Laszlo liked it, it was cool. Eventually I learned how to think for myself, but I was lucky since Laszlo had some good taste.

Mo’ Onions

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Last night before I came home I hung out with Casey Chasm and his friend Moishe. Last minute, spur of the moment thing. Mrs, Chasm was out of town so it was sort of hang out with the guys. Casey’s always a good guy to hang out with, Moishe- I couldn’t say. I’ve only met Moishe twice and he seemed alright.

It was an interesting hour or so. I would have stayed for dinner, but the groceries I bought over the weekend needed to be eaten before they went bad. I did stay for some scintillating conversation and a few Bass Ales. I left feeling rather buzzed, listening to Lou Reed singing about New Sensations on the iPod.

Nothing going on around here and that was fine by me. Watched O & RM again. Back to my old habits. Didn’t pay much attention though. Nothing much on TV. Not one to watch Dancing with the Armenian Idols, I just talked with Harpy on the phone.

Bill came home when I was almost finished playing the guitar. Just playing to some Smiths songs, but hampered by the Dm7 chord. Bill was rambunctious as ever, with lots of silliness. I love him. He really bolsters my spirits and he’s relentless in his bolstering.

After RM we wound up watching The Soup on the E Channel. We like Joel McHale. Then it off to bed for Bill, wrestling with the sleep apnea mask. I eventually joined him, sans mask.

Woke up more tired than I was when I went to sleep. Not enough milk for cereal, just enough for coffee. Not the best way to start off the day. But I got through it.

Caught a bus that was more crowded than I hoped and sat in the very last seat. An overweight guy sitting next to me, almost on top of me. He was apologetic and I did my best to get over it and focus on the New Yorker.

The walk across town was pleasant and uneventful. No errant mice fleeing a swarm of sparrows and starlings.

The office was quiet again, I settled in moments after a phone call from Vivek. He had a few things for me to do. He was home after driving his wife to the airport at 5:00 in the morning and was trying to get some sleep. I could have used some more sleep myself.

I got whatever it was he wanted done. I always get whatever anyone asks of me done. He was going to be out of the office for the rest of the week.

He also set up a conference call, Vivek in bed, me in the office and some French guy from Spain on the phone in Florida. Apparently he has a lot of hotels under his belt so all I could do was take as many notes as possible, hopefully writing things down so they would make sense later on.

I was busy enough, but not enough that the day flew by. In fact it was a bit on the slow side. I had my usual salad for lunch, with a low fat balsamic vinaigrette.

Vivek did make an appearance which surprised me. He needed me to print out some boarding passes which I did and then saw him off into a cab headed to LaGuardia Airport, headed to Atlanta. He did ask how I felt about the ‘new’ job.

I told him that things were getting better, and that I wanted to do good, not just for the company but for myself. He mentioned that he did introduce me to the French Spaniard as their first employee.

I almost mentioned that I wasn’t fond of staying late, but decided we could talk about that next week when he gets back.

I smoked a Saint Luis Rey cigar and I did enjoy a compilation of 2 Tone bands, The Specials, The Selecter, Madness and the English Beat mainly on my walk back to the bus terminal.