Tag Archives: Last Sunday of the Month Shakespeare Reading at Maxwells

Diggin the New

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A blessed fatigue. Not overtly so. Let’s see. Last night, watched the second half of the Dark Knight. Still blown away by Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. Truly deserved the Academy Award for it I think.

The whole movie is so very good, but Heath Ledger stole the movie. It’s still a shame that his life was snuffed out like it was. It was on HBO and I knew if I waited I could catch the west coast broadcast and so that’s what I did. Caught the first half up till the convoy destruction scene in the middle of Gotham City.

Bill was working the 6PM to 6PM shift so he wasn’t home. I slept soundly when I went to bed, but missed his warmth in the night. He got home around 7AM with the sun shining through the blinds. And as usual after he put his sleep apnea mask on, his head hits the pillow and he is out like a light.

He was good enough to bring home the paper and bagels saving me from the trouble of doing it myself this morning. I puttered about on the quiet side as Bill slept.

Still avoiding the news programs and watched Across the Universe a few hours later. Bill was awake by that point and wondered what it was I was watching. He enjoyed it, as I slowly indoctrinated him into the Beatles music some more.

It’s a beautiful movie to watch, a bit over the top sometimes, sometimes a bit wonky but overall an enjoyable movie. I knew there was a Lawn Hors d’œuvre marathon on and I wasn’t in the mood for that. I wanted to be entertained.

After Across the Universe ended I searched on the TV and saw that All Together Now was about to begin and switched to that. Bill got a kick out of that. It’s about the making of the Beatles LOVE Show in Las Vegas with Cirque de Soleil. More Beatles, Paul & Ringo with Yoko and Olivia.

Bill enjoyed the behind the scenes look at the show in progress over the course of almost a year, asking me would I do some of the high wire acrobatics in the show for $1000. If there was no risk of life or limb of course I would. Hell, right now there isn’t a lot I wouldn’t do for $1000.00.

But I do have my limits and some principles and those can always be negotiated.

Just got back from Julio & Stine’s. They’re still having problems with their heater so I brought down the 2 Allen wrenches I had which we of no use and some matches. Alexander is now chatting somewhat.

The parents are clearly getting on each others nerves which makes me think that mother and child flying to Denmark next week might be a good thing for a break.

Alexander is quite amusing and always angling for my attention just like his parents. Now I’m being pulled in 3 directions, but I focus on Alexander since he’s less stressful.

Just checked my cellphone and I missed a call from my nephew Brian. I left the phone in the apartment while I was downstairs. That sucks but he sounded really good, saying he misses Bill and myself and he loves us and hopes to see us soon. He also said he’s feeling good so that is excellent news! Wow!

Today was a nice enough day that I went to the river with my guitar expecting to maybe see Tariq or Tim. Neither was around so I just played guitar by myself. Didn’t really sing, maybe grunted a bit.

Played a bluesy slower version of Love Shack, The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Elton John’s Hercules, Please Please Me, Me & Julio by the Schoolyard.

It was a lot of fun, and I made $3.00 which isn’t a lot to most but it was a slice of pizza for me, and officially makes me a busker, having made some dosh while playing.

I’m very happy with that result. I think The Lion Sleep Tonight will be my go to song since it’s really easy to play and only three chords. And as Annemarie remarked, a lot of kids probably know it from the Lion King. I wouldn’t know since I’ve never seen it. But I think it’s a nice feather in my cap.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be even nicer and I plan to go out earlier. Not for the money, but for the practice.

The money is nice though, but as usual, I’m not in it for the money, I’m in it for the music, for the art, for the X Ray Style.

Heart of Gold

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It’s a cool Saturday night. Been an alright kind of day. Somewhat busy with things like laundry. Last night wasn’t anything special. Which was fine. It had been an up and down kid of week and I’m glad it’s over. Whatever happened, happened.

It’s all in the past. It was good to have Bill around. He’s so supportive, I can only hope I am that way for him. He claims I’m so easy to love. That’s something that throws me for a loop. I’m grateful though. With the way things have been lately, I would have said I was difficult to love.

But I’m not going to disagree and I usually keep my mouth shut when he says that I’m so easy to love.

We watched Lawn Hors d’œuvre Criminal Malcontent which made up for the fact that we missed the episode broadcast last night. It was a good one, with Chris Noth as the main detective and Julianne Nicholson, about a closeted fireman who was murdered. Bill and I had seen it a few times and I didn’t mind much, it was that good an episode.

Bill ordered a new sleep apnea mask which was a size too small which was upsetting for both of us. I convinced him to open the package a few hours before bedtime which is when he noticed it was too small. Better to find out then, rather than right before he was going to sleep.

So Bill had to use the old mask which by the time I went to sleep last night was making sounds like a muted trombone. That wasn’t so bad to fall asleep to. It certainly was better than his snoring.

Bill was up and active by the time I got out of bed. He also bought bagels and the paper for me. He was cleaning up while I ate breakfast. After that I did some laundry. Decided to head out this afternoon, with my guitar.

Since last Sunday was the dipping of my toe in the waters of busking and the fact that today was a nice day weather-wise, it seemed like the thing to do. Bill was getting ready for a nap when I was getting ready, and when I told him my plans, he was very excited.

He’s driving down to Atlantic City again and won’t be back until the morning.

I got some guitar chords together, written on post its as well as sheets of chords that I’ve downloaded over the years. The Smiths, some Rolling Stones. An Elton John song, Hercules and a song by The Roches, Losing You. The Roches song was too delicate for outside and perhaps too obscure.

When you’re busking you have to play songs that people recognize.

I stopped by the Guitar Bar to say hello to Jim Mastro and he was also excited that I was out playing the guitar. I walked over to the spot by Pier A where Tim and Tariq were playing last Sunday and there they were again.

They were happy to see me and liked the sound of my guitar playing. Did what I could with regards to playing with Tim. Tariq fancies himself more of a percussionist, but Tim knows a lot of songs so I just tried to follow him as he played.

Tim had a buddy of his hanging out and had been playing a while. His fingers were getting cold so he split. He made a couple of dollars. Tariq was off talking to someone and a guy named Richard came up and started playing Tariq’s guitar.

Richard taught me some Blues chords structure and I have to admit that I didn’t really know that much about the blues. Richard reassured me, telling me not to worry, most blues songs are only three chords and I wound up playing a three chord blues for about 15 minutes.

Obviously my fingers weren’t bothering me too much. It was fun to play and I was out there for a couple of hours which was the longest I’ve played guitar for a long time. Another week, playing outside in the fresh air.

Richard split and Tariq and I walked up Washington Street, he was headed to his studio and I was off to McSwells. Andy Peters, Super nice guy and ace sound engineer was in town for the Feelies show tonight. They’re performing their first album Crazy Rhythms tonight. I needed to find out about the set up for when I DJ there next month on the 13th, for a benefit.

It was a brief visit. The Feelies were getting ready to sound check for their sold out show. Met the sound guy Carson and he will be doing the sound for the benefit. I just have to buy a cable since I’m not lugging around CD’s or vinyl. It’s all in the iPods.

On the way home I had the Elton John song Hercules in my head so I walked by my apartment building and sat in Church Square Park for a little while playing some more in the evening. I’m getting back into playing guitar and that’s pretty exciting. Practice practice practice!

I might even go to Tariq’s studio and jam with him and his friends tomorrow afternoon. I’ll let you know.