Tales of the City

Just woke up from a nap. Set the cellphone alarm for an hour, only a half hour was needed. I did try to sleep some more but my mind wasn’t having it.

Woke up thinking of Maggie Alexandre. She was the inhuman resources director at Wanker Banker. She claimed to be at the Human Be-In in San Francisco during the summer of love back in 1967 but I have my doubts about that.

The thing that stuck in my mind was the fact that she was responsible for the hiring of some rotten lying conniving office manager and when it was revealed that the person she hired was such a beast the only thing old Maggie could do is try to get me fired.

I know it’s old news but for some reason the hunchbacked crone known as Maggie Alexandre seeped into my consciousness like so much ergot fungi. Maybe it’s because she reminds me of the natural gas spokeswoman for the energy today website.

Today has been an alright day. Went and played guitar for a few hours by the river. Tariq was there, after a few cocktails. It was a bit chilly and he claimed to have been strumming since around 11:30. I didn’t show up until 2:00 and by that time he wasn’t strumming much.

He did try to follow me on a few songs but gave up after a couple of strums and spaced out a bit. He did offer to show me how to play some grunge, and I knew what he meant when he said grunge.

Pearl Jam. A soulless band full of testosterone. I put my foot down and instead played Twist & Shout. He’s getting into the habit of repeating stories that he told me a few days previously and when I tell him he told me that already he merely says, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot that I saw you.’

Still he’s a nice guy. He likes to drink and always has an eye out for the ladles.

It was a bit cooler than it’s been the past week and a lot breezier. I stretched my arms and fingers and neck before and during playing but it was a might bit too chilly. Tariq also talked about building up a set list for playing on the street.

He’s been busking longer than I have and always brings up his friend Steve as a human jukebox. He plays with Steve at Central Park South and Fifth Avenue across from the Plaza Hotel where they supposedly make good money playing for the tourists.

Steve is also the guy I saw playing with Tariq singing Melissa by the Allman Brothers a few weeks ago. That is when I realized that I didn’t want to play the songs that everyone else plays. I’d rather play Instant Karma and Love Shack.

In the back of my mind I see myself playing at Central Park South and Sixth Avenue. Perhaps if the weather gets warmer and I am still looking for work, that is what I’ll do. I actually envisioned that a year or so ago, before I ever started playing my guitar outside.

This week promises to be a better week weather wise and will provide some opportunities to go out and play by the river once again.

Last night I watched all of the first season of Tales of the City. Still as charming as I remembered. I put in the first disc of More Tales of the City. It was a bit of a let down.

Some cast members did not return and the ones that replaced the originals in my eyes didn’t make the cut. I only watched the first episode of the second set so maybe it gets better. I think

Bill wants to check it out so I’ll hang onto it for as long as I can.
JOTTTTTTTTTT

Watching Tales of the City on a blue gray Saturday afternoon. Endearing. I have the first series which was on PBS and the next series, More Tales of the City w3hich was on Showtime after PBS got cold feet.

It was odd because the first series was a big smash ratings wise but the timing was bad since it was around the time Newt Gingrich and company started attacking Public Television and the NEA. And from there it went to Showtime where it did well enough.

I didn’t have cable then and never saw the succeeding episodes. But I’m reviewing the first series and forgot that Syd Straw, Country Joe, Mimi Farina, Parker Posey all pass through. Olympia Dukakis is excellent as is Laura Linney and Chloe Webb et al.

Today is also Record Store Day. I usually visit the local store here in town every now and then. I was there the other day and picked up some good used CD’s a really cheap prices. Today being Record Store Day it was a bit more crowded with guys like me, they’re just wider, balder, sometimes hairier and more often than not, straighter in most every sense of the word.

But I do like the whole aspect of buying a CD, and I really like paying $1.99 for it, Pretenders- The Isle of You. But I think, and I could be wrong, but I think they jacked up the prices of items because it was Record Store Day.

That would be tacky, but having been there the other day I don’t recall things being what they were today. I lucked out and snagged a CD of Lene Lovich, Lucky Number, a best of compilation. I probably could have picked it up for $3.99 the other day.

I’ve always liked her, a special place in my heart for Lene Lovich. I did see her at the Meadowbrook in 1982 and she was electrifying. I was going to head into the Village to check out the Budos Band at Generation Records, but the weather is crappy.

Last night I did head out in a rainstorm and walked up to Maxwells where I saw Glass Trees, the band my friend Chris Repella is in. Rand was there and Roda was managing the place. Glass Trees were pretty good, though Rand and I both preferred the instrumentals to the songs with vocals.

The instrumentals were other worldly whereas the songs with vocals brought the back room back to Earth. They reminded me of My Bloody Valentine and Neu!. Chris was a regular Brian Eno on the synthesizer.

Rand had seen them before and they were accompanied by some visuals. Not last night though. I would have focused on the noisy instrumentals rather than the vocal songs which killed whatever momentum existed from the previous song.

For the past week, Monday through Friday I had 239 visits from 140 cities around the world. From New York City to Winchester, Arcata to Zagreb. Edinburgh to Xuzhou. I think that’s impressive. Some of the visits were just a glance, lasting less than a minute. Some were sent via Google word or name searches and some were return visits.

Still no one in Hoboken reads it. I have no problem with that. In fact I might prefer it that way.