Tag Archives: Bob Dylan

Beautiful Boy

OK, so it’s Monday and it’s a soggy Monday. Nothing but rain. Much like yesterday. It’s supposed to rain every day except for Wednesday, at least that’s what the meteorologist says.

It’s funny, I’ll watch the news to get the weather, then when the weather comes on, I totally blank. I think it’s because of their voices. I hear the voice and I am a million miles away.

Since we have digital cable, I usually wind up rewinding a minute or two to get that five day forecast. That happened last night but I didn’t care since I would catch the weather on the Today show.

And the forecast was rain.

Last night I didn’t watch TV, just played music. I played music instead. Started out playing Bob Dylan’s latest, Together Through Life. I really like it. It’s a fast 45 minutes and quite good.

Then I listened to Jenny Lewis ‘Acid Tongue’ and that is quite good as well, perhaps even better than Bob Dylan. The last song on Acid Tongue is ‘Sing a Song for Them’ and it ended with a familiar string section that reminded me of Old Dirt Road by John Lennon off of Walls and Bridges so I played that.

That set me on a John Lennon kick, through most of his catalog, a few things from Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, the Acoustic album and the Lennon Anthology. I played Beautiful Boy, the studio version and the acoustic version.

Bill was home by that time and he really only knows Beautiful Boy through Mr. Holland’s Opus, one of Bill’s favorite movies. A few more Lennon songs, finishing up with ‘Sean’s Little Help’ where 5 year old Sean Lennon is singing ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ which provided a perfect closer with the Beatles version.

Then it was time for the news and for me to blank out on the weather. Bill had his sleep apnea mask on and I soon fell asleep next to him and his buzzing apparatus. I woke up a little before 8:00 this morning, surprised to see Bill still in bed.

I nudged him and asked if he was going to work and he said he was taking a day off. That through me off a bit but I recovered and found myself in the shower getting ready for work. Donned a suit and headed out into the rain.

Caught the bus and buried my face in the New York, reading about Rwanda. Made it to the office, a few people out today making it very quiet.

Quiet enough that I was able to catch a crosstown bus and walked over to Studio 54 to see if I can join the Roundabout Theater’s Usher Program for the latest production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

The guy in charge of that is a guy who sits in a chair all day with binders. I asked to sign up for the play but he told me it was all filled up for the season. So I signed up for the waiting list.

It’s probably not going to happen and if it does happen it will probably be on a date that is inconvenient for me. Oh well.

I came home from work, and got a letter from my bank.

Out of 4 illicit charges on my card, 2 were disputed in my favor. The other 2 which were the items that were actually shipped to me, according to the bank, seemed authorized.

So I was on the phone for an hour dealing with 2 different customer services.

One issue has been resolved after getting on ‘Mary Jo’s’ nerves, the other I will have to deal with tomorrow during daylight hours, as per ‘Vern’s’ suggestion.

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flip-wilson

Beefcake!

Beefcake!

Shake Shake Mama

OK, I have a half hour to write. Julio just called inviting me down to his and Stine’s apartment. The baby’s asleep in bed and he’s offering a glass of wine.

How could I resist?

Julio called earlier today asking if I could write a letter on Stine’s behalf so she can get citizenship and not be deported. That should be no problem. So I have 30 minutes to write this entry tonight.

Last night wasn’t as bad as I anticipated, regarding Pap Smear. It was a reading and not an actual play. It started as soon as I sat down. It seems they were waiting for me.

It was supposed to start at 7:30 and I got there at 7:15 after braving the crowds in Times Square as I puffed on a Padron.

Since it was just a reading the performances weren’t as over the top as last time and you needed to use your imagination so that helped. It was painless and over before I knew it.

Came home and watched some TV while having a good talk with Bill. He went to sleep as Bill Maher was starting and I stayed up until 1:30 watching whatever it was that I was watching.

I took a ‘There was cool music before Nirvana’ quiz on Facebook. My friend Betti Cola took the test and scored in the low 90’s. Andy, former sound man at McSwells got in the upper 90’s.

I scored a perfect 100% which another friend, Thaler commented on saying she and her husband Tom were waiting for my results and not surprised by my score.

There was some guesswork involved and despite what some people might say, I did not cheat.

I was too tired to cheat actually.

I went to bed feeling good as Bill wore his sleep apnea mask which was louder than usual. It was white noise, like a very loud waterfall, but still I slept until 8:00.

I had a phone call from Abby who had some boxes in his car for work that he could keep in his car since his car was leased and had to be returned today. I told him to call me at 8:00 and I would go to the office with him and get the boxes stored.

He called at 8:15. He picked me up around 10:00 and we rode into the city. Cleared a few things up between us. He’s always late as most Asian Indians are. He said they operate on IST, Indian Standard Time. His words not mine.

Still I proved that I was a team player and sent him off on his way once we got the boxes to my office.

I walked across town were I ran into Lois and Fred who were online outside of Midtown Comics where it was comic book day and they were getting some free comic books. Perhaps they will sell them at their Gate Sale, weather permitting.

I came home, Bill was still here. We watched King Kong by Peter Jackson on TNT and it was fun. I loved the original and thought I loved the Dino Di Laurentis version, but I didn’t.

Peter Jackson was really faithful to the original and it was fun to watch, even with my sweaty hands towards the end scenes on top of the Empire State Building.

Still a very sad story, yes it wasn’t the plane that got Kong. Twas beauty that killed the beast. But I’m sure you knew that already.

After that I walked Bill to the bus stop and I wandered over to Tunes where I bought the latest Bob Dylan cd which I already like more than the last one, Modern Times.

David Hildago from Los Lobos and his accordion are one it throughout, giving it a Springsteen feel as well as a New Orleans Zydeco sound. I recommend it.

That’s it for me. Time for some wine with the Alexander’s parents downstairs.

Cheers!

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