Tag Archives: Connie

Little Fishes

Last night was mellow. Called old friends, Billie and Connie. Billie is in Washington DC, Connie is in the Highlands of New Jersey. Haven’t heard from either of them in a while and since both were in my thoughts I gave a call.

Spoke with Billie first. He just got back from a Mexican vacation. I left a message for Billie a couple of weeks ago, mentioning that Bill and I might be visiting DC in the autumn if there was a March on Washington again.

Well so far no progress has been made on that front and right now it looks like we’ll be staying in Hoboken.

It was a good talk with Billie though. Both Bill and I miss him, having had a good couple of weeks a year or so ago when he was up in Manhattan training for his now defunct job at Chop’t, a way over priced salad bar.

Then I spoke to Connie as I sat on the front stoop, enjoying a Saint Luis Rey Rothchilde. It was an enjoyable talk, interrupted by a network failure on my end. She’s always a joy to talk to.

I can’t believe it’s been years since I last saw her, despite driving past her street in the Highlands some summer days. I’d love to see her again but it all depends on how she’s feeling. One of my favorite things is to make her laugh and I often do.

She’s a real sweetheart. Many a time I spent with Connie involved dancing around her house and I look forward to many more times I can perform a pas de deux with Madame Constance. Or stand out on her ledge, playing her wind chimes and making the neighbors think I’m doing tai chi.

Last night David Byrne was playing a free show at Prospect Park, opening up the summer season of Celebrate Brooklyn. Years ago I would have been there at a moments notice. But the threat of rain and the hassle of Brooklyn proved to be too much to consider.

If it were Talking Heads I would have been there for sure.

But last night was a Monday night and I do have to consider my state of mind with regards to work the next day. It’s not like when I was working in the music business where going out and coming back the next day exhausted or hung over was expected.

I stayed home and Bill came home just in time to catch Weeds which was very good. I love Justin Kirk. He rocks. Ever since Angels in America I’ve loved him and on Weeds he is most excellent. After that we watched Nurse Jackie, starring Edie Falco and that was really good, perhaps even better than Weeds.

Bill was trying to upload the still image from the TV of his appearance as a Saudi king on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He stayed up until 2:30 which around the time I sort of woke up from the very loud thunderstorm going on outside.

I crept through the apartment closing the windows, which were left open just a crack. Didn’t want to take any chances. And it came down in sheets this morning.

I was able to swim on over to my polling place and place my vote for Dawn Zimmer as some Cammarano cronies lurked nearby. The old school political machine of Hoboken churns on.

The other night while Bill and I watched the Tony’s it seemed that the show was sponsored by Big Pharma. One commercial that had some macabre chuckling was for some anti-depressant.

Shots of various actors in black and white, looking into the camera with sad expressions on their faces. What is depression? Who does it hurt?

Then they push the drug with the side effects of suicidal thoughts. If you’re depressed, take this drug and it will probably make you think about suicide if you weren’t thinking about that to begin with. Ridiculous.

And it will probably make you constipated, so you’ll have something to think about while you’re on the bowl.

All Together Now

Just got back from Otisville a few hours ago, and just woke up from a nap a few minutes ago. It was all in all a fun time with Pedro and Connie as well as with Excer and Lillian.

Always good to get out of town if only for a few hours, in this case I was out of Hoboken for about 24 hours. I do like Hoboken, don’t get me wrong, but an occasional change of scenery is the key to living a sane life.

Pedro and I spoke before I left for the train and he asked me to pick up some batteries. Unfortunately the line in CVS was too long and I was faced with a not so difficult decision, get the batteries and miss the train or get the train and forget the batteries.

So I opted to forget the batteries which wasn’t so bad. Pedro wanted them so he could light up some petrified wood sculptures through the house.

The train ride was pleasant enough, I dug into the final chapters of the John Lennon biography which is due tomorrow at the Hoboken Library. It’s been a good read, and so far Sean Lennon has been born and John has his green card, planning to visit his Aunt Mimi soon enough. We know how it will end though, sadly. He was a messed up figure to say the least and he himself recognized it.

Got off the train in Otisville, the next to last stop on the Port Jervis line. Pedro wasn’t around so I waited in the heated waiting area which smelled of a very strong disinfectant. Excer and his girlfriend Lillian were in the kitchen talking to Pedro’s girlfriend Connie when I got there.

I was starving and Connie was making a lot of food, chicken, potato salad, rice and beans. A big bucket filled with wine and beer was nearby and soon enough it was cheers all around with the clinking of wine glasses and beer bottles.

Some of Pedro’s friends also showed up in time to watch the boxing match between Shane Mosely and Antonio Margarito. Pedro mentioned that Margarito was favored to win, in the ninth round which made me root for the underdog Mosely who won in ninth round instead. Things wound down after that.

Two of Pedro’s friends who drove up from Long Island left soon after making some of us scratch our heads and wonder why they would drive three hours up to sit around for two hours and then drive back to Long Island.

More beer for everyone else and we drank and watched a bootleg of The Wrestler which was very good, both the quality of the copy and the movie itself. Still I would see it again in a theater if and when Bill wants to.

Then at 1:00 we decided to watch Gran Torino which despite Pedro’s hype was merely ok. Clint Eastwood doing his best Ted Cassidy as Lurch performance. He also reminded me of my father. In certain shots he looked like him.

At 3:30 it was bedtime for all of us. I was set up in the basement on a comfortable futon not too far away from a very warm fireplace. Woke up to a text from Bill wishing me a good morning and mentioning it was one degree below zero in Otisville. I texted back telling him it was nice to know but I was under a very thick comforter.

Connie made a very big breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes and lots of coffee. Pedro was incapacitated and did not get out of bed. I knew I wasn’t going to catch the 11:00 train back to Hoboken and the next train was around 3:30.

Instead I hitched a ride back to Manhattan with Excer and Lillian and got off at the George Washington Bridge bus terminal only to find the A train wasn’t stopping there and the 181 bus to Union City wasn’t running until 4:00.

I hopped on a shuttle bus to 168th street and caught the train to the 42nd Street bus terminal where I caught the bus back to Hoboken and took a nice two hour nap. Back to work tomorrow.

That’s it for me. Good to be back home, though it would be better if Bill were here.

en route to Otisville at sundown

en route to Otisville at sundown

Otisville 6PM

Otisville 6PM

Excer & Pedro

Excer & Pedro

Lillian and Connie

Lillian and Connie

The host with the most

The host with the most

T'is himself....

T'is himself....