Tag Archives: Led Zeppelin

I Remember (with YANG YO SEOP 방용국)

2 Replies

Tuesday Tuesday, where would I be without you? Possibly in a Monday or Wednesday, I don’t know. I slept well last night. I am sure that you were all wondering about that. Well enough that waking up this morning was somewhat difficult despite Bill’s words of encouragement and farewell kiss. I rallied, showered and ate and then I found myself thinking of what to do. I didn’t have to think that much since I got a phone call from Shlomo. He needed to run some errands and asked if I could sit in the cigar store for an hour or so.

The promise of a couple of free cigars did the trick. It was a fair barter. Hard to believe it had been a while since I had the La Trompeta by Avo. Back in March I had to attend the unveiling of the Trompeta at a exclusive cigar club at the former Top of the Sixes restaurant. Now it’s a pricey cigar club, with nouveau riche and those that aspire to be. It was fun to watch silly men with ‘money’ getting very excited over scantily clad girls handing out free cigars. As Mark E. Smith said, ‘it was like peasants getting free milk!”

It was my day off and I was required to attend this event and my job was to take photos which I did.. Food was promised and also scarce by the time my co-workers and I were able to eat and what we were fed was an expensive version of a White Castle slider. It was a cash bar for the underlings like myself and I couldn’t get out of there soon enough, it was funny watching some supervisors and underlings nodding off drunk. I have seen junkies with more stamina. The reason I write about that is because I found the text I wrote for a blog I was writing for some group earlier this year.The blog is dead and gone but I still have the photos and the text

Last night Bill and I did not watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Instead we watched The Late Show with David Letterman. We don’t usually watch it but I wanted to see Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. They didn’t perform, the three of them sat and chatted with Dave for the first 20 minutes. I enjoyed it and also enjoyed Bill’s questions regarding Led Zeppelin. Actually he was asking about me and how I would feel should I meet them on the street like when I met Mick Jones from the Clash on the street.

It wouldn’t be like meeting Mick Jones, I told Bill. Mick Jones was more of a personal thing, whereas Led Zeppelin was something that I didn’t always like. I explained that when I was growing up, the ‘bad’ kids listened to led Zeppelin and I was a goody goody kid into pop music. I didn’t mention that Jimmy Page had such a power over budding guitarists when I was starting to be interested in playing guitar that most kids figured out how to play Stairway to Heaven.

I didn’t see the point in learning the songs I didn’t much care for back then. Nowadays, thanks to Ultimate Guitar or the Led Zeppelin songbook I own, I could play their songs (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), but still I could not play Stairway. We did enjoy the show and Bill went to sleep soon after Led Zeppelin and I stayed up and watched the rest of the show. It’s been one of those nights I suppose.




One of these Nights

The Barber Feel It

4 Replies

It’s been an interesting 24 hours. First off, though I really didn’t care, I am happy that the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, just for the fact that it more than likely bolstered the spirits of the residents of New Orleans.

The TV was on during the first half of the game, but the sound was off and I was listening to music. Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees and Chicago, hence the title of last night’s entry. It’s funny, like my antipathy towards Zeppelin back in the day turning into an appreciation, I find myself liking certain Chicago songs, specifically Does Anyone Really Know what Time It Is and Make Me Smile.

I suppose it’s the late Terry Kath’s songs, definitely not the Peter Cetera songs, though who knows? Check back in 20 years and I could be writing about how good Just You & Me and If You Leave Me Now actually are. By then though, it might be attributed to dementia.

Bill came home and was surprised to see the game on, and asking me who I was, since the ‘real’ me wouldn’t have the game on. I explained that I was waiting to see the Who, or rather “’alf the ‘Ooo”. Which is what they would have been 41 years ago if John Entwhistle and Keith Moon joined up with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page when Page was putting together Led Zeppelin.

The Who came on and did a good job, Roger & Pete with Pino Palladino on bass and Ringo’s son, Zak Starkey on drums and Rabbit Bundrick on keys. I thought it was Wix Wickens from Macca’s group but Wikipedia says otherwise, so no Wix, yes Rabbit.

It was a decent show. Daltrey straining to hit some notes, and Pete not being able to windmill on the guitar wearing a suit jacket. The stage design was really cool, Bill mentioned that it looked like the 1980’s electronic game, Simon, which it did at points.

Zak Starkey had the Mod bull’s eye on his cymbals and that looked really cool. Lily Mastro commented on Facebook that Zak looked like Terry Gilliam, and he did. I called up Rita after the Who. She was a major Who fan when they first came over in the 1960’s and she loved it saying that Pete could do no wrong.

It was a fun talk with Rita who invited me to go along with her to a Jim Carroll memorial on Wednesday. I asked that she remind me on Wednesday.

I wrote about 2 people last night that I came in contact with today. One was Pedro whom I wrote about doing the Roof Top dance 22 years ago. We talked on the phone about a plan that I have which my sister mentioned that would be good for me. A different career path. Not corporate, no suits involved, though I’m sure if I wanted to wear a suit I could.

I also ran into Damian, Julio’s buddy. I wrote about them last night also attending a party after seeing Led Zeppelin at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert. I run into Damian more than Julio does, I think the last time I saw him was in 2006. Damian’s a Hoboken police officer now and I ran into him on the street. So good to see him, such a nice guy. We did some catching up standing on the corner. Wife and kids are good, he’s happy with his life.

Funny how both Damian and Pedro are now law enforcement officers considering how wild we all used to be.

During the second half of the football game with the volume up and Bill cheering and shouting I researched different beauty schools in the area. I am seriously considering becoming a barber.

Yes, you’ve read that right.

It seems like a smart move, everyone needs a haircut every now and then. I already have an appointment at one school in Manhattan tomorrow and another on Thursday in West New York on Bergenline Avenue.

No more barber colleges, now I would have to take a cosmetology course. Also looking into getting stimulus funding for the schooling as well as financial aid. Pedro thought it was a great idea and was very supportive as a few other people I talked about it with were.

I also made it a point to visit with my barber at Mr. L’s. He thought it was a bad idea as did his son. Their whole point was that it was a lot of standing around waiting for customers, Tony mentioning that you’re always being watched by the person who’s hair you’re cutting.

I don’t watch what Tony’s doing since I don’t have my glasses on while he cuts my hair and I just tell him what I want and trust him to do the job. Last time I had gotten my hair cut from him, I told him to do what he wanted and I think he did a good job.

Tony who’s in his 70’s, also mentioned that during the depression a barber he knew had 3 kids to support as well as a wife and did not go on public assistance like a lot of people, since as Tony put it, a barber always has a dollar in his pocket.

It’s definitely an out of left field idea but it seems right to me, obviously since I am checking out 2 schools this week. I told Tony and his son that after I visit the school tomorrow I would stop by and let them know how it went.

I don’t think they’re afraid I would be taking away business, in fact I would be willing to pick up any slack. Since they’re closed on Wednesday and Sunday, I might be willing to rent a chair and work on those days. I’m only a few doors away anyhow.

But that’s a ways down the line and I’m getting ahead of myself. It does seem like a job that I would be pretty good at. And then there’s that whole Sweeney Todd thing.

What do you think? Your comments would be worth reading should you care to write them…