Tag Archives: Kevin Wagner

Sing Sing Sing

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Wow. Just had an almost 3 hour nap. The thing is I did not sleep well at all last night and was dragging my ass most of the morning. So I closed my eyes for what I thought would be an hour, tops.

What I usually do when I nap is have the TV on in another room. In my mind it acts as a boat tethered to a dock. Well I am the boat and the TV is the dock. And the sound of the TV keeps me from drifting away.

But since there was no TV on, and no dock to speak of, I drifted far away from the shore. It felt good but still there was no need.

It used to be that at least once a year I would come home from work, and maybe go to sleep for 12 hours. I would have done that today but that meant I would be waking up at 3:00AM. Didn’t dream of anything in particular, not that I could remember anyway.

I had lunch with Rand at the Malibu diner. They sat us in the big back room, which neither Rand nor I liked very much. He had a veggie burger with very mediocre onion rings. I had a BLT with fries.

Where I used to removed the tomatoes from the sandwich today I ate the whole thing. I should have had it on toasted whole wheat bread but I didn’t which caused the sandwich to fall apart. Still I ate it all.

Lately I eat just about everything put in front of me. Not such a finicky eater like I used to be. Still, I’m not running out to buy turnips.

I am happy to be able to drop off my computer at Rand’s apartment tomorrow, so perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Then we will go for drinks at McSwells. I was supposed to see the Bongos with the funniest girl alive, Meghan Taylor, but she seems to have the flu.

At least that’s what she posted yesterday on Facebook and today she is incommunicado. She certainly seemed her usual self on Saturday when I walked around Hoboken with her and here freshly shorn daughter Ruby.

I guess even if I don’t see the Bongos, I will have a pint with Rand in the front room. The whole thing about seeing the Bongos revolved around being Meghan’s guest, her plus one on the guest list. And of course I do wish her well.

Last night I watched the latest installment of the Monty Python documentary. It was mainly about Graham Chapman. He was funny and also a pain in the ass to deal with, mainly because of his alcoholism.

It was interesting, that when Graham came out of the closet, John Cleese was surprised since he thought he knew Graham so well. That’s the thing about the closet.

No one knows of the double life that is being led out of fear or self-loathing.

When I was outed at HBJ, a good friend of mine from High School (Kevin Wagner) that I worked with was greatly disappointed that I never told him. Not so much that I was gay, but because of the secret.

Cleese likened it to Michael Palin saying that he was Chinese. It was just a surprising fact about Chapman that Cleese didn’t know.

Still groggy from the nappage so that’s it for today.

Kid Charlemagne

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Another wet day, this time, Friday. And what a day it’s been. More on that later of course. Last night, watched Scrubs again and again and again, Daily Show which was good, Colbert Report which was really good. Also featured REM who were surprisingly very good. I used to love them way back when. When you’d be able to have a drink with them after seeing them thisclose in the back room. The first time I saw REM I hated them though, now that I think of it. They were opening up for Gang of Four at the Ritz on 11th street. They were announced as ‘from Athens, GA…REM!’

No one knew who they were, but I thought they sucked. I just wasn’t into that jungle jangle music just then. A year later yeah, but that night I was more into the jagged guitars and funky rhythms of Gang of Four. I remember leaving my spot near the stage to wander around the club muttering that if they weren’t from Athens they wouldn’t be on stage that night. A year later REM was playing McSwells. I had never been there before, didn’t know Steve Fallon or anyone else. I had tickets to see Peter Gabriel at the Palladium that night and went with an old school pal, Kevin Wagner. We also worked together for a book company.

Peter Gabriel was touring for the Shock the Monkey album and put on an excellent show. Played close to 2 hours if I recall correctly. His last song, one of the most moving songs ever, Biko was amazing and went on for about 20 minutes, lot’s of call and response, pseudo African singing from the audience. I sang along with one eye on my watch. The show ended and Kevin and I ran over to my parked car and drove over to McSwells where there was a mob at the door. Steve Fallon was only letting certain people in and took a look at me and probably thought I looked like my brother Frank (who was inside already). Needless to say, Steve didn’t let me in.

Kevin and I drove back to Bergen County where we had a late dinner at the Saddle Brook Diner. Someone we both went to school with 2 years earlier stopped by our table but didn’t recognize me and I didn’t introduce myself. Kevin was a good guy. He and his sweetheart Ann, got married and moved to Florida. Kevin and I last communicated in 2000. He wasn’t going to our high school reunion. I went and regretted going.

Last night my brother Frank had a seizure during a visit to his neurologist. If there was a place to have a seizure, a neurologist’s office has to be one of the best places. Frank’s in Englewood Hospital and so far the doctors are saying it seemed to be from a scarring from last year’s stroke rather than another stroke. He may be home again tomorrow, Saturday, though right now he has a slight fever. We’ve all been hoping that Frank is making progress, so a seizure is a set back. We don’t really know the outcome of this event yet.

The video I posted a week or so ago of Jill Bolte Taylor talking about her stroke was inspirational, then again she is a brain scientist and had a lot of information and professionals and colleagues around her. Frank doesn’t have those resources, neither do a lot of people. I’m not begrudging Jill Bolte Taylor at all, like I said, she’s an inspiration. Hopefully Frank can get back to where he was pre-stroke. It took Jill Bolte Taylor about 10 years, so I guess Frank would be able to do it in 12.