Tag Archives: Tariq

Instant Karma

What a difference a day makes. 24 little hours. Yesterday I went out to play guitar and it didn’t go as well as usual. Just couldn’t connect. Everything was a bit off with my playing.

Frustrated was the operative word. After 90 minutes I gave up and came home.

Today I was out for over 2 hours and it went well. I was very comfortable playing ‘Don’t Play That Song’ by Aretha Franklin. Mainly the verses, not so much the break. Would have been fun if there was someone to sing with but there wasn’t.

No sign of Tariq this week either. Guess he won the lottery. Shirley Jackson anyone?

I also played Instant Karma and Blue Moon of Kentucky. I was a hit with a few toddlers and made myself a buck. Also made the acquaintance of the drunken Angel who tried to accompany me on harmonica. He insisted he was more of a drummer and had only been playing the harmonica for a month now.

Quite a few men walking around smoking cigars too.

And Bill’s mood had greatly improved from the night before. He came home and said he was feeling a lot better than the previous evening. He was much more pleasant to be around. Things had definitely turned around for him somewhat. We all have our days like that. I know I have.

He was puttering about while I watched Modern Family & Cougartown. He asked me to record Ugly Betty while he went and worked on his computer. I asked that he didn’t beat up the Mac like he did the other night.

And Ugly Betty was sweet. A nice series finale. All loose ends tied up. Betty was a stunner with her braces off and everyone made nice at the end. Sad to see it go, even I lost interest when ABC moved the around over and over.

When I realized it was going to end I made sure to catch the remaining episodes. Justin coming out of the closet was sweet last week, incredibly well done, funny and touching. Of course the week before I applauded when he kissed Austin, the boy he liked.

Betty moved on, taking a job in London. She didn’t make it with Daniel, but he did follow her to London, leaving Mode magazine in the hands of Wilhelmina. It all ended happily ever after. Bill was up late doing whatever it was he was doing.

He went to sleep and wore his sleep apnea mask which while nice was making the sound of mewling kittens. The air escaping through the gel seal between his face and the mask. Kept me up and I even pleaded with him to take the mask off.

After a half hour I finally fell asleep. He was gone this morning, leaving me with a good bye kiss. He called earlier, I think he figured out that I wasn’t about to call him. Not going to take the chance of him having a bad day at work.

Plus I really didn’t have anything to say, so that would be a waste of time for the both of us. Just playing it safe.
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guitar

pre haircut

pre haircut

Help Me, Rhonda

It’s summer. It’s April 7. It reached 82 degrees today. Craziness abounds. Yesterday was quite warm as well. Bananas. Bananas I tell you. Last night I sat on the stoop and had a cigar. Talked to Harpy for a bit. Talked to my pal Claymore as well.

Just killing time before I went back upstairs in time to watch Lost. I will be glad when it’s over. 5 episodes left. Last night was all about Desmond and a barrow in the marketplace. Midway through I got a call from Pedro. Normally I would resent the caller and not take the call but he’s been going through some hard times and felt I should take the call.

He thinks I’m one of the smartest people he knows and really respects my opinion. So I had to be there for him. He’s a great friend though and even if he thought I was an idiot I would be there for him, though it wouldn’t be nice of him to think I was an idiot. He’s called me up twice the past 2 nights, stressed out. Too much drama and since it’s not mine I won’t write about it here.

I caught up with Lost after pausing it for about 25 minutes. I recorded Hors d’œuvre Criminal Malcontent for Bill since he was rehearsing with Tom his drummer pal, the guy who witnessed the civil union thingy last Saturday. Last weeks episode was good and last night was the exit of Vincent D’onofrio. Haven’t seen it yet. I also spent some time learning how to play Walk on By, Help Me Rhonda, Going Down to Liverpool and Don’t Worry Baby.

Today was a beautiful day and I made it out to the river after emailing my resume to a few more job listings. No drunkards to be seen and Tariq wasn’t around. I applied sun block and found a nice spot to play. Karen Kuhl and her friend Christine walked by. Karen was surprised to see me out playing. She asked me to play something for her and I played Walk on By. Then Tariq showed up while I was playing Walk on By and he liked it.

He mentioned how he was out at an open mike last night and was a bit hungover. He wanted to play Melissa by the Allman Brothers and I said no. I explained that I didn’t want to play the same songs everyone else plays and I wasn’t interested in playing hippie songs like Melissa. I think he was a bit put off since he mentioned that he was a hippie.

I said that was why I didn’t want to play in Washington Square Park. Too many squares playing the same old crap. To cheer him up we played Love Shack while some guy played Tariq’s drum, which Tariq usually carries around.

Tariq loves that song and once again remarked on how he has to learn it. I told him to put it on the list of songs to learn to play. Then I surprised him and myself by doing some guitar improv. Same three chords with different people walking by and different comments. I made Tariq laugh and he said I made his day.

He was off to the city and asked me to come along but I opted to stay in Hoboken. He was off and a few minutes later Rand stopped by on the way to the Path train. I was in the middle of playing Don’t Worry Baby and then played Walk on By for him. All in all I was out there for 3 hours again, just playing singing and having a good time.
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