Tag Archives: Julio

Eight Miles High

Well today has been a lovely Sunday. Bright and sunny with only a few minutes of drizzle then it all went back to being sunny and gay. Well it’s always gay for me and maybe for some of you too.

Sorry about the late posting last night. Firefox has been misbehaving lately. Each time I would try to upload pics to the blog the Firefox browser would crash.

Over and over again.

Then I went out to meet up with Rand and Lois to discuss plans for their short film that might be shot over a weekend in a few weeks. I am game for it and told Lois that I would be willing to do just about anything she might want me to do.

It was a good meeting with laughs liberally applied. I’m not getting into any further for now. Don’t want to give anything away or offend any gentleman’s sensibilities though Clive Davis should be worried.

Some musical instruments were played with, a piano, a ukulele, a eastern European harp of some sort and a double necked bass & guitar as well as Lois’ Fender Squire which I liked. Lois asked if we were up for some drinks and Rand said yes and I said no. Then I thought about it and said why not?

It was off to DC’s Tavern on Eighth Street all the way in the back of Hoboken. Everyone’s friend Pat Longo DJ’s there sometimes and I can’t say I’ve ever made it to his spinning sessions. Finally making it there I wondered where does Pat Longo set up his turntables and whatnot.

It’s not that large a space and a lot smaller than I had imagined. It seems like DJ’s Tavern would really like to be a roadhouse. Streamers advertising Pabst Blue Ribbon were hanging underneath beer trays for Pabst as well as other beers.

I expected to see some Rhinegold, Ballentine’s and Schaffer beer trays hanging but didn’t see any from my angle. Cute bartender though, shaved head and inked which isn’t normally my style but any port in a storm. Alas, there was no storm though.

It was a good evening with more laughs with Rand and Lois who I’ve known since 1983. I definitely look forward to the filming of their filmic world. After a few pints of Guinness and some cocktails for Lois we headed out, I was able to light up a San Luis Rey Rothchilde for the walk home, with even more laughing with old friends.

When I got home I checked the blog and was surprised that what I had written a few hours previous wasn’t posted. I was able to figure out what happened wrong on that front and re-posted. Then I watched some rebroadcasts of Lost from the first season.

Posted the pictures this morning on Internet Explorer. As I am doing right now.

With the Guinness and walking around Manhattan in the afternoon with Bill I decided to head to bed with Bill sleeping quietly under his sleep apnea mask. He was up and about around 7:00 which was just wrong in my book. I finally got out of bed myself around 9:00 after Bill had headed off to collect his mother.

I made some coffee, showered and was soon out and about picking up newspapers and other weekend morning items. Saw Julio with Alexander from a distance as they were waiting for Stine and her family from Denmark. I was off to the supermarket so a wave would have to suffice.

It was a nice morning and I wound up playing selections from Woody Allen’s movies, which were mainly songs from the Big Band era. Bill and I watched a little bit of Peter Marshall on PBS hosting a pledge time Big Band special.

I knew most of the songs last night and with Bill’s Shazam application for his iPhone we were able to identify and tell the difference between Chick Webb and Harry James.

My sister Annemarie had burned the Woody Allen stuff a few years ago but they couldn’t be identified through Gracenote on iTunes since I think Annemarie had her son Earl do the CD burning. Too complicated for her and some fun for Earl since he threw everything out of order and it took me a couple of years to figure out what’s what.

It was too nice to stay in today so I walked over to the Hudson River and sat by the soccer pitch and read the New Yorker and enjoyed another San Luis Rey Rothchilde.

I’m still trying to get my brothers and sister on board for what could be Paul McCartney being the first concert at the new Mets stadium in Flushing in July. Right now it’s only a rumor, but it’s a fab rumor.

a brief approaching storm from the west of Hoboken

a brief approaching storm from the west of Hoboken

The Whole World

Let’s see. At 12:30 this afternoon it was 89 degrees out. On April 26. I can see it being like that in July or August but this makes it seem like we’ve bypassed Spring and jumped right into Summer.

Well you know, that global warming myth. It’s all a scam you see. They say it’s a man made problem, but of course this has happened a few times already. Unfortunately there are no records of the polar ice caps melts, ice shelves collapsing in Antarctica.

Greenland must have been green at some point, why else would it be named Greenland? Too bad Leif Erickson isn’t around to explain that one.

I believe global warming is a fact, and I believe it’s a man made problem. Not so much from car emissions, though that is a factor. It’s from the destruction of the rain forests and what I think no one wants to talk about.

It’s because there are a lot of people exhaling carbon dioxide. A lot more people now than ever before and without major rain forests converting the CO2 to oxygen, we are in the mess and on the slippery slope where we find ourselves today.

I was surprised that one of the people in my office say that she believed global warming was a falsehood. I usually hear that from the conservative blow hards, but that was a surprise and her standing in my view was diminished somewhat.

After having napped and written yesterday, I sat on the stoop in front of my building, enjoying a Padron and sipping on a Guinness. My landlord walked by, apparently he was inside the building.

He said he was planning on calling me since he got the note I sent in February, saying that it was posted on the wall by his phone at home. Now that he had me, he asked if I was still willing to vacuum the hallway in my building.

I told I was and we worked out a deal. He said he couldn’t reduce my rent, but would write me a check each month. I agreed to the deal. Julio says it would be a pain in the ass at first and maybe I could hire someone to do a deep cleaning to start off with, and then my cleaning on top of that would be a lot easier.

It does sound like a good idea. I already started today, sweeping up the front of the building and cleaning out leaves and garbage on the stairs outside that lead to the basement.

Last night was an adventure of sorts. Definitely out of the ordinary. Bill and I headed into the city, I still didn’t have a definite idea on where we were going but I did get an inadvertent clue.

A former co-worker on Facebook, Janelle, wrote that she was taking her mother to dinner for her birthday and after that, taking her to see John Leguizamo. I know Bill loves John Leguizamo so that was the clue.

I did a search for John Leguizamo NYC but all that came up was his IMDB entry. A put that in the back of my mind walking down the gentrified Christopher Street scene. Lot’s of bridge and tunnel LGBT teens hanging out but mostly the gay scene in now in Chelsea.

We walked over to Seventh Avenue South towards the Actor’s Playhouse where I saw a poster for John Leguizamo. I told Bill I guessed it, but not really since we were right on front of the box office.

The show was good, it was a work in progress titled, A Work in Progress- Don’t Hate. Bill loved it of course, laughing uproariously throughout.

One or two times I was the only one who laughed at Leguizamo’s jokes, making him mention that he would wait for everyone else to catch up.

I did see Janelle and her mom and hoped to see them after the show, but it was such a warm night and all the bodies in the Actor’s Playhouse made it like wearing a wool sweater inside, plus the seats were a bit on the small side, not really geared for a 6’2” frame like myself or Bill.

After the show we made a beeline for the street afterwards, hanging out in the fresh air for a few minutes before giving up and heading towards the Path train on Ninth Street where we rode the train up to 33rd Street and then back towards Hoboken so we could get a seat.

By the time the train made it back to Ninth Street most of the people were standing up against one another. Young couples heading home early after getting their drink on.

Bill and I made it back to Hoboken were young patrons were either lined up to get into crowded bars or standing outside of those establishments smoking.

Back home Bill went right to sleep and I stayed up and watched a repeat of Lost that they show on Saturday nights.

Woke up, Bill was on his way to clean out his mother’s apartment, I was off to get breakfast. After that, with the temperature rising, I decided to clean up the front of the building.

Then I fixed up my bike and called Rand and we went cycling up to Guttenberg, as far as the Galaxy Towers. A fun ride, haven’t hung out with Rand in a while.

Lisa stayed home, she doesn’t ride a bicycle lately I guess.

An entertaining couple of hours with an entertaining friend from years gone by. And he’s right.

Lost is better than Heroes.

Pics? Pics!

My buddy Rand

My buddy Rand

Galaxy Towers

Galaxy Towers

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34th Street heading east

34th Street heading east

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Garbage Peeps

Garbage Peeps