Well it’s Wednesday, which feels like a Tuesday which happened last month following Martin Luther King’s birthday holiday. Last night, no big deal, watched Keith Olbermann instead of Daily Show which was repeats, same for Colbert Report I guessed. Couldn’t say I watched Olbermann, more like listened to him and not fully at that. He is right on a lot of the time, but there is something in the timbre of his voice that is annoying. After that, more Soul documentaries, this time on Gospel being introduced in the Pop market, specifically Sam Cooke.

It was a repeat which I didn’t realize until I heard Mavis Staples mentioning that people were taking bets to see if Mavis was a boy or a girl. She’s a woman. I remember the first time I saw the Staple Singers on the American Music Awards. I didn’t know who they were, but I liked them and their song, I’ll Take You There. I enjoyed Pops Staples voice a lot, such a simple way of singing, yet backed with an authority that I had never heard before.

After that I watched The Olivia Show, i.e., Law and Order Special Victims Unit. It was good, with Jared Harris as the arch-villain, a homicidal artist doing several life sentences with followers on the outside willing to do his bidding, ala Charles Manson. Jared Harris played a decent Andy Warhol in the movie, I Shot Andy Warhol, not as good as Bowie in Basquiat though. Don’t want the son of the late Richard Harris to get a swelled head.

Then I went to bed after talking with Bill on the phone. Woke up, did my thing and was on the second bus since I was too late for the first. The second bus isn’t as comfortable as the first and it really makes a difference. Read the New Yorker, determined not to fall behind, though I have plenty of other things to read and distract me from the magazine. More errands to run around midtown for, more chores in the office. It wasn’t bad, I enjoy being busy.

Also finagled an early exit since some items needed to be taken to the post office for special deliveries. I had talked with Bill, we had to meet up, I needed to get money from him, so I called him from outside his building as I stood having a Padron. He came down, and we talked for a few minutes.

I had been meaning to ask him how his father was doing and Bill told me his plans to take his mother out to St. Albans to see his father this weekend. It was cold so Bill went back inside and I continued on my way to the bus terminal. Got to Hoboken and had to get coffee. There was that girl again, all chatty and nice. She mentioned she lived on my block so I decided to give her a break. I told her that the first time we met she was a bit rude and she apologized profusely blushing deep red.

Her excuse was that she had been working a 16 hour shift since there was quite a turnover in the coffee shop around that time. I asked her name, she said Stephanie and I introduced myself, shaking her hand and telling her that it was a fresh start. She kept apologizing and I reassured her that it was alright now. Also ran into that sweetheart Allie Politowski on the street, and it’s always good to see Allie.

Picked up dry cleaning, brought it home and found that the trousers I asked to have the cuffs removed, still cuffed. I turned around and brought the suit back, leaving the cell phone home, thinking I was going to be gone for just a couple of minutes. Also had to run to the supermarket where I waited on an awfully long line. Came back with the cell phone ringing next to the computer.

It was Bill, he didn’t sound so good. His father passed away an hour ago. So with that I need to cancel my dental appointment at the NYU Dental School, and I don’t think I’ll be posting the next couple of days. I’m sure you’ll understand. Peace.

added 11:05PM
Bill’s home with his mom and his cousin, Elsie. They went out to St Albans and made the necessary arrangements. They’re in grief mode, Bill on automatic pilot, making all the decisions.