Tag Archives: Mr. L’s

I’m Only Sleeping

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Last night mellow. My evening routine was askew since I wrote before I came home. Nothing to worry about. I was home by 8:00, Bill was watching the convention on MSNBC. I planned on watching Weeds at 10:00 but neither of us wanted to miss Michelle Obama’s speech.

Ted Kennedy was pretty good, with his swan song. The fat lady off stage, waiting to sing for Ted’s political career. I mentioned to Bill that as Ted had gotten older, he became a great statesman. Though the grumbling about windmill generators off Hyannis Port was a bit troubling.

I told Bill that Caroline will probably become the head of the Kennedy family once Ted moves on. Bill went to bed soon after Michelle Obama and I watched the news, eventually going to bed around 11:45, which is a bit late for my ass.

Slept like a rock or so I thought. I woke up tired and slept a little later than usual. I saw Casey on the bus yesterday but since I was late, no Casey today. Walked across town, still a bit groggy, figured once I had a few cups of coffee I would be alright. Well it didn’t turn out alright as I kept getting more tired as the hours crawled by.

Bill was feeling quite the same way. Today I left work early. Yesterday the other two left early, but today was my day. And I’m still taking off Thursday and Friday. Juan’s in town today but since Bill and I are fatigued for no reason at all, it’s probably best that he stays away. Plus it promises to be an early night for the both of us.

I’m still pretty much out of it even though I came home and napped for two hours. I did finally get my hair cut from Tony at Mr. L’s down the street. I walked by and he was free so I popped in for a quickie. My hair grows thick and at a certain point it can be too much.

So a trim was in order. Tony always does a good job and mentions most times that a lot of guys would love to have my hair. He’s a 60-70 something Italian immigrant who lives with his wife in South Hackensack by Lodi, not the South Hackensack by Teterboro.

Uses a color rinse on his hair every month and a half and cuts hair next to his 50 something son. He goes the extra mile, trimming nose hair, ear hair and selectively removing gray hairs from my goatee earning a decent tip. So now I feel a lot cooler physically and mentally but still pretty much tired.

I’m sure a good nights sleep would do me good as well as doing Bill good. I got an email from Pedro with a pic of 30 fellow CO’s tailgating in the parking lot at Shea. He was there, I was wrong. We cleared it all up on Sunday on the phone so that’s good.

Pedro 5th from right

Still reading Alan Bennett which is slow going. Right now he’s talking about his Aunties. All well and good but for me it’s been dragging. Maybe it’s my fatigue. It just reminds me of the boring visits to my Aunt Diddy in Flushing.

She was my father’s sister and her house was not child friendly. There was nothing to entertain a 10 year old boy and I could only get some money from my mother so often to go get comic books a few blocks away. But obviously I’m veering into Alan Bennett’s style and I’m very tired.

I’m surprised I got this far tonight.

Love Plus One

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It’s another scorcher, this being a Saturday. Last night was hotter, yesterday was hotter. I watched Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. A very good documentary on the former John Mellor. Those who knew the Clash story knew that Joe’s father was in the civil service in England, Joe was born in Ankara, Turkey. Being middle class didn’t help with one’s punk credentials in England at least.

It was done similar to the Beatles Anthology, and what they did regarding John Lennon being dead. They used countless interviews to tell Joe Strummer’s story. It wasn’t all favorable. Joe dicked some people in his life and they tell their side of the story. Joe regretted some his his actions, like kicking Mick Jones out of the Clash.

The documentary was filmed around campfires, in London, Los Angeles and New York as well as other places. Mick Jones was indoors though. No campfires for him. Topper Headon, excellent drummer kicked out for being a junkie, tells of living skint while hearing Rock The Casbah playing somewhere. Joe also slept with Topper’s girlfriend, as well as other girlfriends of various people.

It was Topper’s song, Rock The Casbah. I’m sure he gets royalties, since by the time of Sandinista, all the songs were credited to the Clash, rather than Strummer/Jones, or Simonon. Not much Paul Simonon in the documentary. Thats something that keeps bands together, songwriting royalties, U2 does it. Everyone shares in the money. Joe Strummer was also upset that Rock The Casbah was being used as a soundtrack to the first Gulf War.

Songwriting breaks up bands usually. It caused stress in Talking Heads. The band would jam and David Byrne would write the lyrics and get all the songwriting royalties. Eventually they changed it to Lyrics by Byrne, Music by Talking Heads.

But the Clash dissolved, and forget about the Cut the Crap Clash, they barely got a mention. It’s a very good documentary directed by Julien Temple who made The Great Rock and Roll Swindle and The Filth and The Fury about the Sex Pistols. Worth watching if you’re a Clash fan. Some of the footage is also from Dick Rude’s excellent documentary on Joe, called Let’s Rock Again. Also worth watching.

Manager Bernie Rhodes comes off badly. He hated Mick Jones and Topper Headon and set about working Joe and Paul against Mick after Topper got the boot.

I started watching the extras on the dvd, Mick Jones getting fucked up as he tells the story of the Clash over a few hours. Really a spliff too far. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I started to look like Mick Jones so I wound up asleep in my air conditioned bedroom by 11:15.

Didn’t sleep too well. Pillows went bad. Sometimes they just get uncomfortable. Since I was off yesterday I bought the papers instead of reading them online and saw a sale at the Newport Mall on pillows. That was my plan for the day. Make it to the mall. I walked by Mr. L, my barber and at 8:30 there were guys waiting for a haircut.

Not being one to wait, I got some bagels and the papers and came home for breakfast. An hour later I was out on the street, more guys getting haircuts. It’s so hot out that a lot of guys are getting shorn today. So I headed to the train station, walking in the shade and hopped on the light rail to the Newport Mall.

I was there before most of the stores were open. Bought some pillows on sale, bought some nice Airwalk sandals at Payless for $15.00, and microfiber underwear marked for clearance at Macy’s. I can’t wear cotton underwear anymore. I find it uncomfortable, and microfiber is more comfortable but seems hard to find. I found it though.

Made it back to the light rail, back to Hoboken where it was still too busy to get a haircut. Came home, had a bagel and decided to take a nap with the new pillows. It was a much needed nap. Had a dream that my brother Brian was calling me to tell me he had some really good acid.

I slept for 2 hours, air conditioned and happy. It felt like the nap made up for the uneasy sleep of the night before. I finally felt on track. Went out to try to get a haircut again, but still, no luck. Bought groceries and talked to Annemarie while I shopped in the air conditioned supermarket.

Mr. L’s closes at 5:00 on Saturday so I went down at 4:45. My barber, Tony was finishing up for the day. The other barber told me that I was next in line 3 times. This time I was staying. Just as well since I was Tony’s last customer. I told him to cut it all off. He knew better than to listen to me. I just got a nice close cropped haircut. Not a crew cut, more like a suedehead, and it feels great.