Tag Archives: Bill Moyers

I Got A Woman

Well it is day two of two days off. And it’s been good. Today was better than yesterday despite the rain and the cold and the dampness. Last night was better than the day as well. I was in a better frame of mind when Bill came home from the gym. He was relaxed and happy to be home and I was quite happy to see him.

We settled in for the evening and watched the Betty White birthday show on TV. It was actually pretty good, and Bill of course laughed uproariously throughout the program. After that was a version of Candid Camera featuring senior citizens playing pranks on young folk. Bill and I both agreed that it was cute but corny.

Then we watched Bill Moyers and Company on PBS. I’ve met Bill Moyers a number of times and definitely trust him and his shows. And last night was no exception. It’s not candy floss news like Brian Williams on NBC, this was real and intelligent, which is why it was on PBS and not the other stations.

Bill went to bed midway through the 11:00 news and I stayed up watching the Colbert Report, followed by 30 Rock and then finally I went to bed. Slept quite well and had a few dreams about the cigar shack, including one where Jimmy Seltzer had a moustache. Bill was up and back to work and I have little recollection of him kissing me goodbye as he always does. I’m sure he did though.

I do know that he made a very good pot of coffee which was waiting for me when I got out of bed. And outside it was raining which made me want to stay in bed longer. But I had plans today and I got out of bed and got myself activated. A trip to the supermarket where I was online for my favorite cashier Isis, and I found myself behind my former favorite cashier, now retired Linda.

My sister met Linda once and said she was reminded of our grandmother, Nana- my mother’s mother. A nice chat while on the line with two sweethearts. Then it was home for breakfast and then I was out on the street in the rain.

I caught a bus to the Path train and rode to 14th Street. I walked over to 10th Avenue and wound my way up to 19th Street, to the David Zwimmer Galleries. I read over the weekend of an installation by Doug Wheeler and it had me curious. Since it was in the New York Times, I figured it would be crowded.

I walked into 533 West 19th Street and saw the On Kawara exhibition which I enjoyed but tired of it rather quickly. Still I was glad to have seen it. There was no one else there except for a security guard. I asked the receptionist on the way out where I could see the Doug Wheeler installation and it turned out I walked right by it.

I walked into 519 West 19th Street and was told I needed to take my shoes off to see the installation. They had some disposable slippers and of course as I took my boots off I realized I had a hole in my sock. I felt like Paul Wolfowitz but did my best to cover up the hole quickly.

I walked into the room where the installation was and I was overwhelmed by light. It was incredible and hallucinatory. A woman was nearby behind me as I started to laugh out loud. It was great. No sense of depth or what was in front of me. And throughout all this I could see paramecium floating in front of me, which turned out to be my eyeballs.

Sometimes if I look a certain way through my eyeglasses I can see the paramecium (or whatever it is- floaters?) and here it was again. I never said anything about seeing these things throughout my life, but I asked the woman nearby if she was seeing what I was seeing, and she said something that I didn’t quite hear.

Still it was a giggle and I was soon taking off my disposable slippers and putting on my boots and back on the street. From there I walked up to 23rd Street stopping by the Mallick Williams Gallery after the exhibition by Lindsey de Ovies caught my eye. It was a lot of fun and I was able to take some snapshots before heading to the Vivian Maier showing.

The Vivian Maier show was part of a show with Weegee, two photographers I’ve admired throughout the years. Most everyone knows who Weegee was and there was so much of his stuff that it overwhelmed the Vivian Maier photos. And it was crowded. I didn’t last too long there and soon headed up to the bus terminal enjoying a cigar in between raindrops.

And now I am home after yet another lovely dinner with Julio, Stine and the one & only Alexander. I bought him a coloring book and some crayons as well as a slide whistle. Not as much fun as Stine’s iPad but then again I guess I am old school.

Juan is in town and wanted to do something fun, but I was at Julio & Stine’s when he texted and I simply can’t entertain tonight since for me it is back to work tomorrow. So he is off to some bear bar in Jersey City.

Not sure if I will be posting tomorrow since WordPress is having a black out against SOPA. So I guess we will wait and see. You should all protest SOPA. I mean if Rupert Murdoch is for it…

Alexander McQueen store


Doug Wheeler


Lindsey de Ovies 'The Hand That Feeds'



looks much better in real life. textural.



06 Bob Dylan – Floater (Too Much To

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine

Ugh what a day it’s been today. It started out OK I guess. Nothing really bad happened but at work, that’s where it went down. The day started with me and Don Birch and Raymond and it was alright.

Then Don Birch announced he was leaving early for Rosh Hashanha. He’s not really a practitioner of Judaism, but I think it was his girlfriend whispering in his ear to take off. Marcus was out of the shop as was Calvin, so Don was basically allowed to play the religious holiday card without any interference from management.

That sort of left Raymond and myself alone in the shop, waiting for Sean to come in. Being 20 years old, Sean does very little and isn’t very dependable. Raymond suggested that I stay in the shop for my lunch and that was something that I certainly did not want to do.

I work a 10 hour shift and I do enjoy having an hour to myself out of the shop. When I started it was recommended that I stay in and mix with the customers but that’s not my thing and I don’t like some of the customers that sometimes hang out in the back room all afternoon.

Plus cellphone use is discouraged and I do like to talk to Bill and other friends on my lunch hour.

So I whined a bit and Raymond didn’t like it. I never wrote this before but I will now. Raymond whines all the fucking time. Whine whine whine. And complains constantly. So much so that when I talked about it to Billie in DC back in June, Billie told me that Raymond should be avoided at any cost.

But that isn’t a possibility since it’s a small store and we all interact. Sean did show up and it was slow enough that I left the building for lunch and walked to one of my usual benches by the park to enjoy a cigar.

As luck would have it, the cigar started to fall apart as I smoked it. I decided to head back to the shop and get a new one, which meant that I did have most of my lunch hour in the shop. And as expected I didn’t care for the other customers in the back room.

Pretentious college students this time who actually were putting down the cigar shop and praising the competition across town.

After lunch and it was a cold front between Raymond and myself. He eventually came around, after I talked to Sean about how fed up I am with Raymond’s whining, all the time. Maybe Sean talked to Raymond because Raymond was soon quite apologetic.

After that it was smooth sailing. I stood at my perch in the shop when an older gent came in. I of course offered to help him. In the humidor when I was suggesting cigars I recognized his voice. It was Bill Moyers, formerly of PBS, now retired.

We chatted for a bit and I showed him the cigars that Bill Paley Jr just came out with. Bill Paley Jr is the son of William Paley who started the Columbia Broadcasting System. I told Bill Moyers about this blog, told him the story of how Lewis Lapham got me started.

He was somewhat interested in this blog and asked for the address. I told him I would give him the address, hopefully buying sometime to come up with a more polished piece than this one. It truly was the highpoint of the day and I certainly hope to meet him again.

Forget the day, it was the highpoint of the week. He was much more entertaining and interesting than Steve Winwood.