Well sad to say Clarence Clemons has passed away. Can’t say I am much of a Bruce fan, not like my siblings but I do appreciate his oeuvre. I grew up listening to Bruce’s first three albums and by the time the rest of the catalog came out my brother Frank and sister Annemarie had moved out so I wasn’t hearing much from their end. Brian was still around but by that time I was more into Punk/Post Punk/ New Wave.

Still those first three albums are embedded in my DNA. I only saw Bruce live once, and that was on the Born in the USA tour at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford and that was more like a rally at Nuremberg in the 1930’s without the Leni Riefenstahl cameras and certainly more enjoyable.

It was sad news to come home to, to say the least. The day at the cigar shack was not as busy as it was hoped. I made it in on time, no pick pockets on the bus. That enabled me to get an egg sandwich on my way to the shack. It was a beautiful morning as I walked up the avenue. In the shack were Calvin, Thomas, Jerry Vale and me. It was a mellow day. Thomas once again showed his extraordinary skills as a salesman. No $3000 humidor sales going on for him but still his numbers were impressive.

Calvin ranked at number two and I was in third place. Calvin had the strange idea to have Jerry Vale work a register on a day like today. It wasn’t constantly busy but there were a few flurries. It would have made more sense to have Jerry Vale learn during the week when things are a lot slower. Thomas pointedly told Calvin it was a bad idea and Calvin stood there dumbfounded, which made Thomas’ voice become louder and shriller.

The blood on the carpet was finally cleaned up but there was a mysterious crack in the door to the lounge. No one knows how it got there, and if they did they didn’t own up to it. People walked through with a rare delicacy afforded to brutes going in and out of the man cave. And a stalker came into the store. Not my stalker. Last I heard of her she was still scouring the east side looking for me or someone with my name.

No this was Calvin’s stalker. She hadn’t been seen around in a while apparently but I was stuck with her and got along with her just fine. As far as I knew she didn’t pay much attention to me, but she definitely stared at Calvin whenever he came into view. Calvin did his best to be invisible and he generally was for the time she was in the shack.

Now it’s Saturday night, I’m home, Bill isn’t. He was not driving down to Atlantic City this weekend, instead having call backs from previous auditions. I don’t mind the quietness, but still it would be better if he were here, driving me crazy. Not writing tomorrow so don’t ask. I would like to read your blogs if you have any. Send me the linkage suckas.