Tag Archives: Bill

Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can

Well here we are on a Saturday. Day of the dead or Dia de los Muertos for those playing at home. So far it’s been a good day which promises to be a good evening. Last night I did go out after all. Walked up to McSwells where Rand was dressed as a zombie cracker pimp and Lisa was his ho. Lois was dressed as a zombie cannibal Wall Streeter.

I of course didn’t have a costume. It took a lot for me to get out of the house. Bill had gone to be early and I was content to do nothing. Rand called and texted me, effectively cajoling me to go out. So I got my act together and headed out. It was a Friday night and walking up to McSwells I thought about how rarely it is that I go out.

I used to work at McSwells on Friday nights as a bar back so I didn’t really know how things were on the outside. Perhaps it was different then, but last night there were mobs of people in their Halloween costumes all queuing up to get into various bars and pubs. When I lived in Weehawken I really didn’t go out on Fridays. I was definitely content to stay in an do whatever it was that I used to do, which was watch TV and play with Zed.

I had my ID checked at the door which should have been flattering and then waited for a pint of Guinness. $6.00 a pint and with a tip it made for $7.00. Found Rand and Lisa and Lois in the back all dressed up. On stage was a woman dressed as Sarah Palin singing what may have been a Carpenters song.

It was my first time at karaoke and it wasn’t quite what I expected. Not that it was bad or anything like that, just that I expected something different. I felt a bit out of place not being in a costume but then again I wasn’t planning on staying long. I didn’t understand whether people are really bad singers, or just mangling a song because they could.

I’m sure there are different types of people that go to karaoke. There are the ones who do their best and take it very seriously and then there are those who are simply out for a laugh. I understand both camps. I did entertain the idea of getting up on stage and singing a song, whether faithfully or interpreting the song as a way of overcoming my terrible stage fright. But last night wasn’t the night for me to do that.

After a long wait for a second pint I saw Lois sing Money (Thats What I Want). Money as well as human flesh is what she actually wanted. Rand and I joined in from the audience with Lois’ request for human flesh. Unfortunately the karaoke machine broke down in the middle of Lois’ song and as a way of making it up to her offered another song to sing.


Unfortunately the song was One Eyed One Horned Giant Purple People Eater which wasn’t the same thing and a bit lame. Who knew there were actually lyrics to that song?

I had enough by then and didn’t feel like waiting a long time for another pint so I made my exit after wishing Rand and Lisa and Lois a good time. I would have stayed to hear Rand and Lisa sing but I was getting cranky. Two pints seemed to be enough for me and I wandered on home, avoiding groups of costumed revelers.

Bill was still fast asleep, he didn’t even realize I had gone. I watched the rest of Bill Maher and then went to sleep myself. Got up ran some errands, saw Linda the former cashier at the supermarket who hung on my arm as we walked into the store. She then went her way and I went mine.

After a few hours I went out and bought myself an Obama as Superman t-shirt to wear to the B-52’s tonight, then walked over to the Obama Headquarters where I phoned over 100 people in Kearny to remind them to vote on Tuesday.

Mostly I left messages and only spoke to two McCain supporters who I still reminded to vote on Tuesday and to have a good day today. So now I’m just getting ready to see the B-52’s which really should be a good show.

In The Night

Friday’s here and it’s alright. Took a while to get here though, but patience pays off. Just did some laundry and it will probably take all weekend to dry. It’s on racks in the kitchen and hanging in the shower. Last night was O & RM. Bill went to sleep before that, around 7:45.

His back has been bothering him. I watched O & RM solo and then the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Then it was a deep sleep for me. Bill was out by the time Billy Joel was singing about how he didn’t start the fire.

He might not have started the fire but I found the snooze button and was in slumberland for another 10 minutes. After that I was in the shower. It being a Friday I was going to go casual but since I couldn’t find the right shirt I opted for suit and tie. And as expected it was very quiet.

The only excitement is when we had people coming in to see the space they may be subletting from my company. Of course I didn’t know anything about this and who knows what the look on my face was when I saw Ben Shapiro the real estate agent with 6 or 7 people behind him.

They wandered around the office looking at space, making plans for tearing down cubicles and installing a trading desk. Since I didn’t know what they could and couldn’t do I just referred all questions to Ben Shapiro’s supervisor. I also wrote Ben’s supervisor asking him to let me know if there will be clients and whatnot coming in, just a heads up is all I was asking for.

He responded quickly telling me that he did tell Vivek that people would be coming. He apologized for not cc’ing me on that message and I of course bit my tongue thinking about what an airhead Vivek can be sometimes. He’s the managing director so I guess he can do whatever he wants to do.

It was downhill from there. Nothing bad, just nothing to do really. Whatever it was I basically did yesterday. There was the matter of changing the water and the rocks in the glass vases that contain bamboo shoots. That took about a half hour then I had lunch and soon was on my way walking across town. An average boring day. Glad it’s over.

Bill and I are watching the latest episode of Entourage. His request since we’ve seen every episode of Scrubs like 8 million times. I think it will be a quiet evening in tonight this Halloween. Tomorrow is the B-52’s and since we’ll probably be dancing that mess around it best that we keep our feet up tonight.

Then again I just got a call from Rand. He and Lisa and quite possibly Lois and Fred are heading to McSwells where they are having a Halloween Rock and Roll karaoke thing which I totally forgot about. A visit might be in order, get out and have a pint or two and watch whatever it is that might be going on. But right now we’re waiting on a pizza and I’m hungry. Growl!

Free Springsteen Halloween track at http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/new-bruce-springsteen-a-night-with-the-jersey-devi_032031.html