Bill | johnozed

Today has been a rather ho-hum kind of day. After yesterday’s events, the Sounds of Hoboken, how could it not? Yesterday was a very good day, though my approach to it was filled with anxiety. Just the occasional fear of playing live in front of people who are there to see live music. It’s different from me just strumming on a bench with people walking by. This was something that was rehearsed for a few hours, taking the simplest route with the easiest chords, and familiar enough to know the words to various songs. Still, with all that preparation, it was butterflies in the stomach.

I had butterflies, or maybe caterpillars that turned into butterflies for a few days previous to yesterday. I practiced for a few hours with Rand on Saturday and it went well, whittling down the song list and trying to harmonize. It went well and with Bill at the second day of his 30th high school reunion I just sat at home watched TV and practiced some more. Bill came home, so happy. He truly enjoyed his opportunity to look at his past and to see how far he had come since 1982. He’d accomplished quite a bit.

We sat and talked into the early morning, he had so many tales to tell of going back to his old school and meeting students that are taking the same routes that Bill took when he was a teenager. IT was obviously a momentous occasion and I was more than happy to listen to him talk rather than think about playing guitar and singing with Rand the following afternoon. He soon went to bed and I stayed up a little while longer watching TV and continuing to practice on the guitar. Soon I was fast asleep next to Bill in our bed.

The next morning I was up and getting around, Bill had gotten up a little before me. I showered and shaved since I was scraggly. Art Hams were going on in the middle, after Trombolele- America’s Favorite Trombone/Ukulele combo, and before Stump Granny’s Violin, where a Teutonic Granny played songs on the violin and people will call out songs, and if Granny did not know the song, you would win a prize. I ran some errands after I had some breakfast and after a couple of hours, both Bill and I headed up to 14th Street in Hoboken.

Bill insisted on carrying my guitar and I wanted to walk up Washington Street to hopefully see some troubadours on the way. No troubadours were spotted but Bill and I did run into the lovely Meghan, one of my dearest and funniest friends. Her (our) daughter Lily had a set at the Guitar Bar Jr. at the same time Art Hams were going on so there was no chance that either of us could see the other playing. It was the same thing with a few other friends. They were playing somewhere else in town and it would have been impossible to see them play and be at the Garden Street Mews on time.

Meghan went her way and Bill and I ran into RoDa, Elly, their kids Logan and Autumn. We all ambled over to the Garden Street Mews where Lois was with Rand and Lisa. The people before us had a tent set up and were headed out taking their tent. There was no definite space to play and I suggested somewhere further from the street but no one else seemed to think it was a good idea, so we compromised and settled on being in the middle, where people can sit and watch.

Trombolele went on and were pretty funny. Amused in the mews. Some familiar faces showed up, some stayed for a few songs and some stayed for the whole shebang. Rand took off his Tyrolean hat but kept his pseudohosen on. We started with the B-52’s Dirty Back Road which we seemed to be playing on. Rand’s guitar had gone out of tune so I basically played the most between the two of us, which was fine. All together we played a little over a half hour which was fine.

People liked us, Bill recorded it and took tons of snapshots. Stump Granny’s Violin went on next and Granny was a trip. Very funny and everyone left with smiles on their faces. We were all pretty hungry and it was decided that we should go to Maxwells for food and some beers. And it was good. A nice walk, taking Lois home first, then Rand & Lisa and finally me & Bill, feeling nice. Bill was proud of me and enjoyed the whole thing which was good to hear. We settled in for the night, watching the Tony Awards which were great, thanks to Neil Patrick Harris.

I stayed up and watched Mad Men at midnight before going to bed and having a strange dream about the cigar shack. Today has been hum drum, overcast and muggy. I walked around Hoboken for a while this afternoon, seeing a few friends who also played yesterday. Each chat opened up with ‘So how’d you do yesterday?’ Apparently it went well for everyone.

Trombolele- America's Favorite Trombone Ukulele Combo!

Art Hams

Granny!

Bill and Lisa

Jurassic Garden in front of Granny's house

Back to Normal

02 Dirty Back Road

I had difficulty sometimes knowing what day of the week it was while I was working retail with an erratic schedule. Now being out of work, all semblance of organized time has been thrown out the window. Well actually not 100% true. I can tell by the fewer amounts of people on the street or more often what is on TV. Nurse Jackie, The Big C and Mad Men were on last night so that makes it Sunday, dunnit? I wrote the first two lines last night and the rest just a few minutes ago. It’s been a lazy day after a night of some not very good sleep.

Looking at Saturday night’s entry, wow. I was quite drunk. Each word was a struggle and the fact that I was able to do it, albeit badly, has to say something. Not one of my best and better off ignored. I did have a good time and once I settled in at home I soon sobered up and eventually went to sleep. Waking up wasn’t so bad on Sunday. I slept in later than I expected, just as Bill was going to bed after returning from yet another drive to Atlantic City.

It was a fairly busy day, but each time I decided to go out and play the guitar by the river, (not actually busking since I am too intimidated to have an open guitar case in front of me) it looked like the skies were about to open up. And it did rain hard a couple of times. After an hour or two of that and with seeing the sun come out, I headed to the river and just played whatever songs I could figure out from memory. That meant Shame Shame Shame, All My Loving, Please Please Me, Kansas City/For You Blue and a variation of Take Me to the River.

Rand was practicing with Lois, the three of us will be playing together next Sunday as part of the Sounds of Hoboken thing. I had hoped to be playing around where I was strumming yesterday, but it seems we will be at the mews uptown around 14th Street. I think I am going on around 3:15 with Rand. Rand is also performing with Lois as Trombolele, and then Lois doing something called ‘Stump Granny’ where the object is to stump Granny (Lois) with song requests and win prizes or something.

I walked over to the river and set myself up and di what I did. The skies did ipen up and I was under a tree so I had some shelter. I also looked around for something better than some leaves on a tree, but after walking around to nowhere in particular I realized that my original spot was the best so I went back, opened an umbrella and waited it out for a few minutes. And I was right, the storm passed, leaving a rainbow over Manhattan. I could see about two thirds of the actual arc and a few minutes after that, a second rainbow appeared.

It was a nice sight to see and I played my guitar, wishing I knew the chords to She’s A Rainbow by the Rolling Stones. After an hour of strumming it was time to go home since darker clouds were gathering in the west.

I came home, Bill was off to a wedding that I was supposed to attend, but I requested the time off from the cigar shack and the RSVP was needed by a certain date which had passed by the time of my dismissal. So Bill took his dear friend Theresa who needed to go out and have a good time more than I did. They had a good time and sent me a nice video from the reception where they told me that they loved me and they were having a great time indeed.

It’s getting better all the time.

04 Getting Better