Padron | johnozed

Wow last night and today, the weather has been beautiful. Last night was a wonderful time on the Hoboken waterfront. Last night, as years previous, there was a performance of the Guitar Bar All Stars. My friend, guitarist extraordinaire, Jim Mastro is a co-owner of the store, the Guitar Bar and every year the employees, former employees and kids who take lessons there get together and play.

Last year was covers of songs of the British Invasion, though no Beatles and no Stones were performed. The year before was a cover of the Beatles Revolver. This year they decided to do songs from the video game, Guitar Hero.

As usual it was a lot of fun. And it’s good to see Jim again but for me and no offense to Jim, I just get a thrill out of seeing Meghan and their daughters Lily and Ruby. I got there a little after 7:30 and missed out on Lily playing two songs. I did catch Ruby playing with her dad to Should I Stay or Should I Go by the Clash. Ruby held her own and provided excellent backup vocals.

I enjoyed the show, hanging back smoking a Padron. I was in the cigar smoking section apparently as there were a few other guys smoking stogies. At some point towards the end, my LCD screen on my camera crapped out. I could still take pictures, but I couldn’t use the screen to see what I was shooting.

I could get the playback on the screen though and it worked perfectly for video. I was worried that I would have to send it in which could be a problem since I was hoping to take the camera to Lois and Fred’s soirée next Saturday.

I helped Jim and Meghan load their car with various things after the show and was home by 9:30 which was pretty good. I begged off going to the after party at a pub across the street from the Guitar Bar. Having had a few too many beers the other night I just went home. I uploaded a video of Ruby and the Guitar Bar All Stars last night and that took forever.

I also looked at the vacation photos my sister sent from their trip to Oregon. Looks like everyone had a great time and my nephew Earl looks like a real lady killer with his haircut.

Got up this morning, out the door and soon on a not so crowded bus. It’s summer and a lot of people take their Fridays off. I did last week and this was the first full week since June that I’ve worked. I knew it was going to be a quiet day, but I definitely had to be in before 8:30 when there was a scheduled meeting.

I was hoping to see some of Feist performing in Bryant Park but it wasn’t to be. I did walk through the park and saw a decent crowd but the band wasn’t playing yet and at that moment were behind some black screens on stage unseen by the audience.

Still, I had no time to check it out and was soon in the office. The meeting went off according to plan and was over by 9:15. I probably could have gone home then but stayed around to get things ready for next week.

I was also able to call up Canon and talk to a customer service technician about my camera. The warranty expired last month but I was still in a grace period until August. He suggested resetting the camera and if that didn’t work I would have to send it in, but if I did that I would have no camera for Lois and Fred. Luckily the reset worked and my camera was fully functioning again.

I left work at 1:45 and came home. Watched the Portishead Live in NYC dvd and it sounded great but was putting me to sleep. So I took a nap, perhaps too long and now I’m a bit foggy.

And now some extras…

Should I Stay or Should I Go

Jim Mastro guitar maestro! (like that’s never been said before)

The Guitar Bar All Stars

Me and Meghan ( the best out of two, trust me )

Our ersatz daughter Lily

Padron

The ring finger

The groom fully dressed (by his bridesmaids)

200 Park Avenue

The neck

Good morning moon

Obama in Berlin

Well I just had a lovely dinner of leftovers. I liked it better the second time around. And who wants to make a big dinner in day five of the heat wave. Now the weather people are saying it’s going to be like this until Tuesday. How enticing.

This upcoming week is the first full five day work week that I’ve had in three weeks. I’m sure I can get through it without much trouble. It’s been too hot to do much of anything except stay indoors most of the day. I get up early, do whatever it is I might have to do, home by 11:00 and then I don’t go out again until about 4:00.

Today that is just what I did. Last night I did the same thing, except for an hour when I sat on my stoop and had a couple of beers. Watched various neighbors come in and out while I read Uncut magazine and smoked a Padron. Then the mosquitoes made themselves known and I came back inside.

I watched the extras on the Joe Strummer dvd and that was about two extra hours. Lot’s of Mick Jones reminiscing with a pint in his hand a heavily lidded eyes. I watched the same way. Lot’s of additional camp fire interviews, mainly about what a good bloke Joe Strummer was. Especially Mick, who was endearing, watching him get a bit misty eyed when going over the old days.

Then I watched Led Zeppelin live which was tiresome since I had seen it a few times already. I went to bed when they got to Knebworth 1979, their last shows. Today I was up early, ran some errands, saw Martin Kelly working at CVS. I told him about the Individuals playing at McSwells on Tuesday and he seemed interested. I have a feeling that he’s not going to remember.

Tried watching Mad Men, a tv show that my brother Frank is mad for. I just can’t get into it. There’s something to it that I find plodding and slow. No likable characters either. I gave it my best shot and watched a few episodes that were being shown in a marathon but I just couldn’t get into it. I tried.

After that I threw in the dvd of Flesh. It says by Andy Warhol but it’s really by Paul Morrissey. Another thing I couldn’t get into. So dated and not even Joe Dallesandro’s cock was enough to maintain my interest. That cock is now 40 years older and the body it’s attached to more than likely doesn’t look the same.

After a few minutes of that I took out the dvd and replaced it with Romance and Cigarettes by John Turturro. Believe it or not, that was even worse. It was odd watching James Gandolfini sing and act as Aida Turturro’s father, as well as Mandy Moore and Mary Louise Parker’s dad. They play the daughters of Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon. It came out in 2005.

Great cast, Christopher Walken, Kate Winslet and Bobby Cannavale. Oh it was terrible. It was so bad that I couldn’t stop watching. It wasn’t bad in a good way, it was just bad.

I finally ejected the disc and watched a documentary on Otis Redding instead. I knew how that ended though. Not good.

Wandered around Hoboken, sticking to the shade. Still hot but right now there’s a nice breeze. Here’s some pics. Stay cool.

The W Hotel in Hoboken. Too big!