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I Turn My Camera On

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OK, So far it’s been an OK day. Been somewhat busy too.

Didn’t sleep well last night. Bill has had a head full if allergies and the poor thing has been having difficulty breathing. He thought the sleep apnea mask would do the trick but it didn’t. Made things worse actually.

I’ve been drinking a lot of juice lately, for the past couple of months and all day all night I’ve been drinking it. I think the sugar in the juices has been keeping me up and no allowing for a good night’s sleep so I’m back to water. Nothing but water.

Maybe some coffee in the morning but for the rest of the day- water. And so far so good. I didn’t come to that conclusion until last night as I lay in bed next to Bill. Stuffy, stuffy Bill.

Finally as I was drifting off to sleep, Bill let out a violent sneeze. Violent and loud enough for me to exclaim, ‘Jesus Christ!’ Woke my ass up and wasn’t able to fall back asleep until later.

I do think that having less sugar in my juices might help me sleep well tonight. It’s an experiment you see, and I am the subject.

Last night was as mellow as all the previous March nights, before sleeping. Bill was off at the play, I was here, exactly where I am now, wearing different clothes.

Watched Olbermann with Laurence O’Donnell subbing for ol’ Keith who is off grieving for his father. Watched Modern Family which was pretty funny. A good show to catch. As is Cougartown which is created by Bill Lawrence of Scrubs fame.

Snappy dialogue and situations and both show don’t have laugh tracks which is, in my book, great. If you liked Scrubs you’ll probably like Cougartown, which features that dancing girl from the Bruce Springsteen video.

So today I headed into the city. I needed some new headphones for my iPod. The ones I got a year ago are kaput. J&R had a sale so I headed towards the Path train. Walked by the waterfront where I saw Tariq.

He was out playing guitar and we chatted for a bit. Told him last week about young Tim getting hit by a car, happy to tell him today that the kid was alright. Tariq has these open houses at the Monroe Center in Hoboken and had one last Sunday which I why he wasn’t on the waterfront.

He’s always inviting me to jam with him in fact he said I should have came back with my guitar and jammed on the Allman Brothers with the Bear Hippie guy he was jamming with.

Tariq also showed me how to play Sweet Melissa but I have to confess I’m really not at all interested in playing any Allman Brothers. I do have some punk principles. On the other hand I just played Leaving on a Jet Plane by Peter Paul and Mary so go figure that one out.

I suppose I have no problems with pop music, it’s just southern boogie bands that I seem to abhor.

I made it into the city and walked over to J&R where I found the headphones on sale. Ear buds actually. Sennheiser, volume control on the wire which comes in handy. Walked over to city hall park where I wrestled with the packaging, feeling a bit like Larry David.

On the iPod I played TB Sheets, two versions, one by Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker’s version. Not for nothing, but I like Van’s version more. John Lee’s version is definitely good, but the audience talks throughout.

Took the Path to the Newport Mall where I walked through Macy’s. Looked at the men’s suits and felt no suit lust like I used to. Not very good suits anyway. Saw a nice Ben Sherman shirt on sale for 20.00 but it wasn’t my size and I’d wind up looking like a dissolute Robert Plant at Madison Square Garden circa 1973.

Does anyone remember laughter?

Walked to Payless shoes since they usually have good deals on Airwalk sneakers and my current sneakers are looking a bit worn. Still comfortable but it won’t be long till a hole appears. Didn’t see anything I liked so I walked out and walked into a Lens Crafters which of course was all about the hard sell, not really understanding the concept of browsing.

They’re really on you like white on rice. It was off-putting so I walked out of there and wound up walking back to Hoboken on the river walk. It was a nice cool day and glad to have gotten out and done something different, going out and about.

Listened to Spoon who are one of my favorite American bands. I know, I’m late coming to that conclusion.

Good think I put curtains up. Or is it?

Good think I put curtains up. Or is it?


Hoboken from Jersey City

Hoboken from Jersey City


3.25.10 Huhboken 006
3.25.10 Huhboken 008
Photo-0052
Yoo Hoo

Yoo Hoo

Basketball Jones

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This is one of those moments in life where a joint would be most nice. But of course I am lacking in that department. What started as a fine day almost degenerated into crap and it wasn’t my fault. I do have to thank the makers of Xanax for taking a major edge off the trouble I found myself in this afternoon.

I suppose it’s true, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In that case, to quote AC/DC I’m on the Highway to Hell.

Last night was quite pleasant enough. Bill came home and we watched The Baroness of Jazz, about a woman, an heiress to the Rothschild fortune who left England and wound up being a major supporter of Thelonious Monk and a few others in that Jazz scene.

I recorded it since Bill has a connection to Thelonious Monk in some regard. Right now, my patience is sorely being tested by the sound card I guess on my computer.

Right now I’m trying to listen to some Kate Bush on iTunes, while also trying to upload the videos I shot of Bill tonight. Unfortunately with every keystroke on the computer the sound goes to shit.

Apparently I cannot do more than one thing on the computer without something going wrong. You get what you paid for I guess. Be ru-un-nni-i-i-nn-ggg u-u-u-p-p t-hhhhaaa-tttt hi-ll-ll is not how Kate Bush is supposed to sound. A 5:01 song gets stretched to 6 and change.

And the one clip I had shot of Bill was somehow turned into 2 clips, so I decided to add the sound check making it a 2:36 clip. I know I would be feeling a lot worse if it weren’t for the Xanax which is merely making me frustrated rather than angry.

Anyhow, The Baroness of Jazz was good and Bill really enjoyed it. After that, Bill and I watched Saturday Night Live. I generally enjoy the holiday episodes of Saturday Night Live. I often wondered if it was Lorne Michaels generosity that lets some truly strange sketches go on air.

I loved the digital short, it was hilarious and definitely weird. No more pajamas for me. Bill went to bed during Weekend Update, I stayed up to watch the rest. Muse were the musical guests and I thought they were alright.

Soon I went to bed as the snow continued falling. I woke up around 8:30, Bill was off to church for the first time in weeks, delivering the liturgy. I soon had my boots on, walked up to Washington Street where the bagel shop was empty. Yesterday the line was out onto the sidewalk.

In and out in under a minute, I made my way through sloppy streets to the supermarket. Cute cashier, reminded me of Karen Kuhl from Gutbank, 20 years ago.

The rest of the day was OK, until I responded to matters regarding Christmas presents. Where I planned and saved to get these presents I was left feeling foolish for getting these meager presents. Whatever good feeling I had was soon gone.

Bill was home by then and taking a nap, I had an early supper. That’s when I had the Xanax which couldn’t activate fast enough for my nerves. Eventually it did and talking to Bill about it certainly helped.

Things will have to be done differently and certain plans will be changed within the next five days. C’est la vie, that’s just the way that it goes.

Bill and I ran into Rand and Lisa as we walked to the Path train, good to see them. They wished Bill good luck with his singing. We also ran into Kathe Charas who is leaving New York and heading to Florida to help out some relatives. Glad to be able to see her on the day she was leaving though it was quite inadvertent.

We were set up nicely at the Garden, had dinner in the Press Room and Bill had a small dressing room. We had passes that allowed me to walk through the bowels of the Garden and shoot Bill’s sound check and the pass came in handy during the actual performance.

Unfortunately, someone bumped into me during the actual performance which left the video slightly disjointed. I posted it on YouTube as johnotoole99 as well on Facebook and also here.

Our singer

Our singer

'Just the facts, ma'am'

'Just the facts, ma'am'