Tag Archives: A Bus named Laverne

The Letter

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Well just got back from some busking yet again. This time I was closer to Pier A. I expected to see Tariq out there with his drum or even the hippie that was out there yesterday but to my surprise there was no one near.

Perhaps the engine of the Mister Softee truck nearby kept them away. I set up shop once again, playing 2000 Miles by the Pretenders, Half A World Away by REM and the Letter by the Box Tops which I taught myself last night, as well as my standards of Love Shack, She’s A Woman, Please Please Me and Hercules.

It all went unnoticed. It was a bit cooler out today but I situated myself in the sun. From about 2:30 to 4:00 I played until the sun went behind the building and my arm started tightening up.

I ran into Roger and Dina on my way home and had an enjoyable chat with them for a few minutes on the street corner. It’s been a pretty god day so far. Bill is driving a bus named Laverne from Woodcliff Lake NJ to Allentown PA.

Some metal band is playing and someone from Bill’s church rented the bus. He just phoned, he’s having a good time. I reminded him to flash the devil horns.

Right now CSPAN is on, watching the House of Representatives going on and on about the Health Care Reform bill. The party of No steps up to the microphone and keeps mentioning the ‘flawed’ bill. What do they offer in it’s stead? Any suggestions except for starting all over again? No, not at all.

Last night I watched Observe & Report starring Seth Rogen. It was OK. A little bit more violent than I expected. No need to watch it twice that’s for sure. Also tried watching Bruno but that was just asinine. Could not get past the first half. It was just stupid.

Borat was funny but this was just dumb. After Observe & Report I took the DVD out and turned the cable back on and Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married was on. I never saw it before, and I’ve never seen a Tyler Perry movie before either. I had a feeling something else had to be on so I scrolled through the TV listings.

I saw The Man Who Fell to Earth was on and decided to catch that. I’ve seen that a few times, a couple of times in the theater and I even own the DVD. Still a good movie, I’m pretty sure that’s when David Bowie started to lose his mind and had to flee Los Angeles for Berlin.

Too much of the snow white for the Thin White Duke. Each time I see the movie I end up getting something from it that I had never noticed before. And yes, they showed Candy Clark getting the piss scared out of her, by Thomas Jerome Newton.

The movie is like a work of art that you do not get tired of watching again and again.

After that I watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I had also seen that a few times in the movie theaters, specifically the Oritani Theater in Hackensack. Went with my brother Brian a few times to the midnight show. It’s a fun movie, not the greatest.

Bill walked in halfway through and I needed to explain to him that the best way, perhaps the only way to see it is at a midnight movie with a hundred crazy people singing and talking back to the screen as well as throwing rice for the wedding scenes, toilet paper when Professor Scott appears among other things.

But I watched the whole thing until the end when I went to bed. That’s about it, it’s been a low key day, much cooler than yesterday.

Callouses are coming along nicely on my fingers again. And I just got an email from Lois who wants to busk with me on her violin. She’s more than welcome to join me whenever she would like.

No news on the status of Street Corner Mourner Tim’s progress, but I guess no news is good news.

Me via web cam.

Me via web cam.

This song has been on my playlist a lot lately…

Dracula’s Lament

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Well I was all set to start writing about a half hour ago but I started playing So It Goes by Nick Lowe on guitar, then wound up playing Stereotypes by the Specials and then I went into Give A Little Bit by Supertramp and then finally found myself playing The True Wheel by Brian Eno and I was in heaven.

So many changes but so much fun to play. A welcome distraction. My callouses are coming along quite nicely and my index finger on the left hand isn’t as cramped as it had been. I haven’t been playing as much as I would have liked to but apparently not playing had served me well.

This evening from Bill: You know baby, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Me: Aw I agree baby, I feel the same way. I AM the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

Last night I went down to Julio’s apartment and hung out. Like old times, we had a bottle of wine and talked. Stine and Alexander are in Denmark and Julio is flying out there on Saturday, not coming back until next year. And by next year, I mean in a couple of weeks.

It was good last night, we talked about McSwells and how he doesn’t ever want to go there again. Not even for a drink, but of course I am always game to hoist a pint or two with Rand.

We also talked about seeing Macca at both Madison Square Garden and CitiField. He felt the Garden was more intimate but the sound and sightlines at CitiField were much better.

Julio also had 2 Christmas presents for me, which was an awfully nice surprise.

One was a biography on Paul McCartney that just came out. I had read the reviews and they were quite good. It’s by Peter Ames Carlin and not a puff piece. I don’t think I’ve ever read a McCartney bio, except for the authorized one by Barry Miles, Many Years from Now.

That was good, but Paul was directly involved in it. The one that Julio gave me last night mentions how Paul has been rewriting the past to suit his needs, like saying that he basically wrote In My Life. Julio hoped I didn’t have it and I didn’t.

He also hoped I didn’t have the other book, John Lennon : The Life by Phillip Norman. I didn’t have that either but I did take it out of the library earlier this year and read it. Julio was dismayed by that but also to be on the safe side, gave me gift receipts for both books.

I did take a walk to Barnes and Noble in Hoboken this afternoon looking to exchange the Lennon book, but they had a meager selection. I could go to another Barnes and Noble in the city and exchange it there, but it’s such a lovely picture of John on the cover and not wanting to disappoint Julio, I think I will end up keeping it.

But I may go into the city and just take a look see. There is that Beatles book scheduled to be released in June 2010, You Never Give Me Your Money but I don’t think I can or should wait that long.

I came upstairs and stayed up to watch Craig Ferguson’s 1000th broadcast. I’m really enjoying his show and last night was very funny. No Craig Ferguson, he had puppets instead, interviewing the guests and also had Jason Segal and Nathan Danforth with The Broken West featuring Ferguson’s Dracula puppet singing Dracula’s Lament from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

So sweet that I posted it on Facebook. Just something really nice and Jason Segal is cute too. And now I am posting it here too…