Tag Archives: Andrea Voto

I Know U Like It

Waiting at the bus stop with the usual despair. Still I remain hopeful for some reason.
Had a dream about my eyeglasses being broken & needing a screw.

Just now I was thinking about a sequel for To Kill a Mockingbird, Revenge of the Mockingbird where Atticus wrestles several rabid dogs to the death, Boo Radley avenges Tom Robinson’s lynching by marrying Lula Mae and Jeb & Scout take up kung fu. Lot’s of shoot outs and car chases.

Today was all about being back at the cigar shack. The usual apprehension. I was working with the possum and Jerry Vale once again. Thomas relayed his unhappiness with regards to whom he worked with and today I got half of that. The possum is back to his old tricks, open mouth coughing, and phony camaraderie.

I waited for the bus, no sign of Bill since he was on Staten Island audition for the Staten Island Yankees and the National Anthem. Apparently it went well and wasn’t the cattle call we were anticipating. An uneventful ride for which I was grateful. Lately there’s been some traffic mayhem happening and I did not want to get further on the bad side of the possum.

I trooped up the avenue, listening to some Beastie Boys. As I neared the store I saw or felt a familiar vibe. I walked by a woman and felt I should turn around. I did and came face to face with someone I hadn’t seen in 36 years. Andrea, a woman I went to grammar school with at ST. Francis de Sales.

She immediately recognized me as I did recognize her. Hugs and kisses all around, she was with her fiance and her son. It was all to brief as I was off to work. It was great to see her and also a mind blower. It really was a fun event on my way to work.

The ventilation system is working so the regulars were back, same as it ever was. The possum coughed a lot and limped a lot since he has sciatica. Turned down my offer of Motrin. Now it’s a Saturday night, the cigar shack area is quiet once again. I hit my goal and not top sales but I am satisfied with it. The possum and Zack wouldn’t be but that’s not my concern. I did what I could. If it’s not good enough then oh well, tough shit.

The Velvet Underground are singing Sweet Jane. It was decreed that the Beastie Boys would be too much for the delicate men that smoke here. Ann Boyles would call them Jazz Queers and she meant it with some affection. I lack Ann Boyles affections. Tomorrow is a day off and also the Hoboken Art & Music Festival. Should be fun, the weather seems promising. The dB’s are headlining so that should be entertaining.

Now it’s Buzzcocks with Ever Fallen in Love. I met Pete Shelley once, and it was a blatant kiss ass from my end. I told him his latest single was great when it wasn’t, but I just wanted him to feel good and whether or not I did, I’ll never know.





11 Precious and Few

No Words

Nothing to say today. Did some riding around Hoboken. It was a nice day. Ran into Julio, Stine and Alexander. Finally some pictures with Alexander and his eyes open. So here they are. Meeting Rand at McSwells for a few pints so maybe I’ll write later. In the meantime, here’s some pictures.

I actually wrote. See after the pictures

The view from 16th street in Hoboken

Laughing baby!

My Lotus

“we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds… ”

the soon to be 40 father with his 2 month old son

The remarkably non-plussed Alexander and me.

Ooojah boo boo!

making a point

Stine and Alexander

Un famile

Choochie time

Someone’s getting tired

Well I was supposed to meet Rand at 8:00 but I just called to let him know I would be a little late, he replied in kind so now we’re looking at 8:30-ish. Which should give me enough time to perhaps rub one out. Another entry, that is. Let’s see, last night watched TV, including a very good show on PBS about Arab satellite television, specifically a show for women.

Sort of like the View, but not. 3 women in modern dress, one woman in a head scarf. They get a lot of shit from the extremists, the 3 women for the way they dress, which is quite tasteful to my western eyes. They talked about the subjugation of women, of homosexuality and of masturbation, all taboo subjects.

Not just to the Imams and such, but also over here. It was like both the right wing christians here and the right wing muslims there both read from the same script. Of course it’s a bullshit script, but you can’t tell them that. It was engrossing and I watched the whole hour with heavily lidded eyes. Soon after that I fell into a deep sleep without any zombie dreams or Justin Long (tee hee).

Woke up at 5:00 with the sun already up, so I tossed and turned and tossed again finally awaking and getting out of bed around 8:00. Did my thing, bagels for the family on the third floor, some grocery shopping for myself including my dear Stevia. Hoboken Farm boy has been rather strange as of late, rather cold people behind the counter.

So I went to Basic Foods which had a sale, and they were nice behind the counter, so points for that. It makes a difference obviously. Did laundry and since it was a nice day out I decided to break out the bicycle. I inflated the tires and rode around Hoboken’s empty streets. Swung by the Hoboken Museum and looked through a photography book of Hoboken in the 1970’s.

What a run down place Hoboken was. I moved to the Mile Square City in 1984, when it started to crawl back to ‘respectability’. I thought the book would make a nice present for Julio for his upcoming 40th birthday next week, since he was born and raised here, he would remember how it was, places he used to play around.

I also bought 2 tickets to Xanadu for Bill’s birthday which is the day after Julio’s. I got 2 seats on stage, pretty cheap too. Below $50.00 which is cheap considering Broadway shows are over $100.00. It’s a matinée on July 6, so I told him to keep that afternoon open, but not telling him what for. I’m excited about seeing the show.

That’s the Theater Fag coming out of me I guess. I don’t think I really qualify since I only see a Broadway show once every 5 years or so. Sunday in the Park with George last weekend was the exception. I also heard from Donna Rinaldi, my girlfriend from 32 years ago and Andrea Voto again.

I’d love to see them again, find out how their lives are, but that remains to be discussed down the line I suppose. Still it was a thrill. Donna was surprised I remembered her, and Andrea was surprised I remembered that she once owned a Beatles lunch box. Time to go for a pint or two. Cheers!