Jim Mastro | johnozed

I am so over this winter weather. It’s spring and you would think it would be warmer and it is, but it’s in the low 40’s and damp out. Not very pleasant at all. Grey skies all day. I had lunch with Juan, just some pizza on Washington Street. He got a job at a place that I interviewed with. It’s a card shop and I walked by last month to drop off a resume. To my surprise it turned into an interview with me in torn jeans and smelling like cigars. The interview lasted about an hour, 45 minutes with the owner and 15 minutes with his wife.

I thought it went well but apparently it didn’t. I even suggested Chaz apply there which he did, but since Chaz and I are in that age group that no one wants anymore, they went with Juan who is half my age. Turnabout is fair play since I did snatch the Maxwell’s job from under Juan. Well probably Juan and several other applicants. I used my history with the principal players as well as the club itself. Juan might have been annoyed but I told him that he was the one that employers want these days. He can speak 3 languages and is in that desirable age group.

I did attempt to get Juan a bussing position, as a way to get his foot in the door at Maxwell’s but he was snatched up by a tony restaurant down the street. So he has 2 jobs, the card shop during the day and the restaurant at night. It’s not 7 days a week and the schedule is a jumble but he works it out somehow.

Once again a lot of laughs were had with Juan. I do love having him around. Bill enjoys him too and they both gang up on me when they’re together. I take consolation in the fact that it takes 2 of them to attack little old me. It may happen again tonight, Bill is out and about and Juan might stop by on his way home after work. I wouldn’t mind if it did happen again. I can dish it out and I can take it. So can the two of them, up to a point I reckon.

I stopped by the Guitar Bar and had a nice chat with Mr. Wonderful Jim Mastro. We talked about Bob Dylan coming to Hoboken in July which is very exciting. Unfortunately it will be a Friday night and I will likely have to work. I already made arrangements to have off this Friday to see Bill sing at CitiField and also the first week in May when I am attending a lecture by Brian Eno at Cooper Union.

I was definitely in Eno mode last night, watched a couple of documentaries on Brian Eno on YouTube and thought about having those 8 Eno albums re-autographed. I met Brian Eno at Skyline Studios when he was producing Laurie Anderson and asked if he wouldn’t mind signing his first four solo albums as well as his first four Ambient releases. Unfortunately he signed them with a thin sharpie which doesn’t really show his signature very well.

But after what happened in Boston during the marathon I suppose security will be tight and I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ carrying around a bunch of stuff which may or may not be signed. Still I am very excited at the prospect of hearing just what it is that Brian Eno will have to say. No matter what I am sure it will be interesting to say the least.

And my friend Jimmy Seltzer was briefly glimpsed on the Colbert Report.

Well it’s Friday today and that’s good I guess. I am sure most of you made it through the week safely with no squabbles. It was a bit bumpy here but things have gotten better. It’s was that time, when Bill gets so tired and not much fun to be around. Nothing bad on his part, he just over does it and stretches himself too thin. And sometimes no matter how good the news is, or how happy someone is to see you, you’re just not in the mood and generally cranky. It happens to me and it happened to Bill.

But things are better, like I wrote. Hurt feelings don’t last mostly and there is no point in hanging onto them, they do not do anyone any good. Bill is off to Atlantic City once again and I am tracking him to give myself some peace of mind. Already he is at the border of Lodi and Hackensack. I guess he is picking up in Bergen County before heading south. I will hear from him once he gets to Atlantic City. Hard to believe but it was only a month ago that Atlantic City was almost under water. Nothing will prevent people from gambling I guess.

Today has been alright. I slept fairly well, waking up to Bill’s farewell kiss before he headed out. I got out of bed a little while after that. I had a dream that seemed to take place down the shore at a house that my family rented. My siblings were all there and at one point I decided to go to the beach and walking in the direction of the ocean I found myself at the intersection on Route 36 where Highlands borders with Rumson. That was about as far as I got before turning around in the dream.

Then I got back to the house and found that in order to get to one room, you had to climb a ladder and move a curtain so that a door could be opened. No one seemed to mind despite the fact that it was an odd way to go from one room to another. The dreams seem to have gotten very interesting, enough that I can actually remember them when I usually forget them once I am awake and starting my day.

I saw Shlomo today and talked with him for a bit while enjoying a cigar he blessed me with. I mentioned that he should get one of the Shop Local/Rebuild Hoboken signs that most stores have in their windows. I knew Jim Mastro created them so I had an actual reason to go to the Guitar Bar. And there was Mr. Wonderful himself and he did have a few of the signs. So I got one from Jim (who also loaned me a Bee Gees CD- Spicks & Specks) and headed back to the cigar shop where I gave it to Shlomo.

He set about putting it in the window and I headed out, picking up Raspberries for Bill since he asked me to get him some. Now I am home again, about to make some dinner. Nothing planned for tonight. I was invited to join the people who voted to save rent control at a nearby pub, but I reckon I will just be staying at home and saving some money. Next Friday, Bill and I are going to see Sinbad at the Apollo Theater.

It was my birthday present to Bill back in June, and now the date is here. Bill’s never been to the Apollo, where I have been a few times. It should be fun, we have good seats. It will be interesting since Bill loves Sinbad and has been reluctant to see live comedy since Bill has quite a rambunctious laugh, the type that could possibly draw the attention of the comic. So we shall see how that works out. It’s next Friday so there’s plenty of time to think about that.