Tag Archives: Hoboken bibliothèque

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It’s a bit cooler out today. Not necessarily attitude wise but temperature wise. As in degrees, meaning °. Gray skies, supposed to rain the next couple of days.

I took Tales of the City on DVD from the bibliothèque. In a strange way, I was hoping to use this blog the way Armistead Maupin used his San Francisco newspaper column to create the characters of Barbary Lane.

I loved the mini series when it was on PBS. I was living on Jane Street in Weehawken when it was originally broadcast. Such happy times on occasion there and I sometimes thought that there was the potential for the Jane Street residents to live a life akin to Tales from the City.

We were interesting enough and creative enough. The landlady’s daughter working for Penthouse magazine, her undiagnosed Autistic brother being a mail room drone downtown somewhere. There was me and William, he being super creative, me working in the music studios and People magazine.

Could have been something. But I moved out (after 11 years) and within a year later William, his brother Chaz and Chaz wife Kathe, all tossed out when the landlords, Ms Penthouse and Mr Autistic decided to sell without even offering it to William or Chaz who would have bought it.

I could still write about that place, and with the passage of time I could make it a semi fictional account which would have been my original modus operandi.

I did wander around Hoboken for a while and ran in Tariq who did not win the lottery. Living his life the way he sees fit, the temperatures were in the 60-70° range, today being around 50° he decides to come out.

I showed him 2 new songs, Instant Karma and Don’t Play that Song and he was impressed. But it was cold and he wound up walking me towards the library before he headed off to his girlfriend’s studio.

Tonight I plan on going to Maxwells (yes Maxwells. I am being nice) to see Chris Repella’s band Glass Trees. They played last month in Jersey City, but Maxwells is so much closer.

And they’re going on between 9:30 and 10:00 so that means I will be home at a decent hour. Plus I’ve never seen Chris play, even though she’s been in a few East Village/Pyramid Club bands. So it should be nice to get out and about.

Tomorrow is Record Store Day so go out and pay your local record store a visit. I went to Tunes this week where I bought the Pretenders The Isle of View CD for $1.99. Sort of The Pretenders Unplugged.

And tomorrow I am planning on going to Thompson Street to see the Budos Band play a set at a local record store,.Generation Records which I think is between West 3rd and Bleecker St at 2:00PM. Of course it will depend on the weather.

For now, for me, it’s all about the laundry.

Bill is driving to Atlantic City this weekend, so he’s happy and I’m happy. So it’s all good.

Hotel Yorba

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Totally disjointed. Cohesion makes no sense. I can’t go on. I’ll go on. It’s been yet another out of the ordinary day. And yet every day is out of the ordinary since there are truly no ‘ordinary’ days. Each one is different from the one that precedes it.

Oh the depths I am plunging. Must be the white wine I have just shared with Julio and Stine. It’s been a good day.

Last night I played some songs by the Marine Girls and decided that was a band that Lily Mastro should be aware of. So I burned her a CD and made sure to meet up with her today. She was playing with the Street Corner Mourners around Pier A this afternoon.

Bill came home this morning after driving a bus to and from Atlantic City. He’s doing the same thing tonight. I went off to the bibliothèque this morning and ran into Julio and Alexander in the park across the street.

When Alexander saw me, he came running towards me with arms wide open for a hug. So sweet. He’s never done that before. And not only can he identify me, when you say ‘Where’s John?’ He points to me and says ‘there’. Now when he wants my attention he yells ‘Don’. Still needs to work on his ‘J’s’ you see.

After spending time with the father & son, I headed towards the river while Julio & Alexander went home for a nap. The Street Corner Mourners where playing near Pier A and I decided to record a few of their songs.

When I got there, Lily came running up to me. Apparently some of Tariq’s dodgy acquaintances found their way around them and it was a bit unnerving for these 16 year olds. I played the role of responsible and sober adult.

I humored Lily while Tim and Cyrus played guitars with Tariq. Tariq was only around for a little while before he headed into the city. After he was off the Mourners and I headed down a few benches, best for collecting change from passerby.

Having drunkards around doesn’t really entice young urban mommies and daddies to throw change into an open guitar case.

I recorded about 7 songs, as well as getting duct tape so Lily could do a quick repair on her accordion strap and some batteries for her flip cam.

After a while I headed home to pick up Bill’s dry cleaning while he slept the day away before heading to Atlantic City again.

Had a call from Julio who asked if I wanted to go to Ikea with him. I met up with him and went to Ikea on a weekend afternoon. Last time I was there was sometime last year with Juan on a weekday. Definitely not as crowded. Today, jam packed.

It did tire me out somewhat, Julio bought a bookshelf for Alexander’s toys and books and I dealt with the crowds. Then there was traffic coming back to Hoboken.

Stine invited me over for dinner and being the fine cook that she is I certainly couldn’t resist and nor did I want to cook dinner for myself.

It was a wonderful faux Mexican dinner, Alexander doing his best to get my attention by running back and forth showing me every book that he has. Like I said, it was a fun day but now I am tired.

And surprised I was able to write this. But here it is.

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