The Feelies | johnozed

And here we are on a Monday. Not much going on here. Just cooked up some chicken and pasta for the next couple of days, since Stine’s cooking is now gone. Just another hum drum day really. Not too much going on.

Heard from Janelle who gave me the names of her contacts so I can send my resume out to them and she what will happen. I’m grateful so if she’s reading this, Thank you Janelle. And she just posted on Facebook that she just got a job.

Walked around a bit his afternoon in Hoboken. Not much going on here. Stroller set, dogs and dog shit. Hoboken is starting to look like Union City with the dog shit.

Had a fun talk on the phone with Julio. Asked if there was a job at his company. I’d sweep if need be. I conveniently forgotten the fact that though Julio and I are good friends, we can’t work together. But there’s no job to be had there.

Last night was a good night with Bill. We watched a documentary on the making of a Steinway piano. Bill mentioned that he wouldn’t want a Grand Piano and I remarked, ‘Oh great. Now I have to cancel that order for Christmas.’

Then we watched Curb Your Enthusiasm which was funny and Bored to Death which was funnier. For a change we watched Mad Men which we had never done before. It was the season finale and it was very good. Couldn’t get into the previous seasons but this season was worth catching.

We both agreed that not only do I ‘look like’ Phillip Seymour Hoffman and perhaps even Drew Carey, we can add Jared Harris to the list. I knew that from the 1990’s when I saw him playing Andy Warhol in “I Shot Andy Warhol” which Julio actually worked on.

Jared Harris is the son of Richard Harris by the way. It’s an OK movie despite Lili Taylor and some excellent carpentry work.

It’s getting dark at 4:30 now. I may go for a walk later after eating. Where to? The streets of Hoboken? It’s a well trodden path.

Listened to the Feelies a lot today. Mainly since I was trying to download some free songs that my friend Andy recorded at the 9:30 Club in DC. It was a free download since I actually bought the CD last month.

I remember when I first saw their album. It was at Crazy Eddie’s on Route 4 with my brother Brian. I thought to myself, ‘who are these nerds?’. A few months later I was hanging out with Laszlo Papp who was good friends with their bass player, Keith.

In fact, one summer night in 1980, I hung out with Laszlo, Keith and Keith’s wife Kim (who it turned out was a good friend of my roommate in Weehawken, William) playing soccer at 2:00 in the morning on a field from St. Leo’s church in Elmwood Park.

I was sober and not high, just having a good time. Came home around 3:00 and promptly got my head handed to me from my father who was angry that I was coming home so late.

Things got convoluted in all my relationships with Laszlo, Keith & Kim and my father. But that’s another story for another time.

Well it was a fun time last night. I left here after posting and I hardly ever go out, much less on a Monday night. I walked up Washington Street towards McSwells enjoying the evening and listening to Girl Talk. I downloaded one continuous track so if I want to get to a certain mix, I have to remember the time in the track and shuffle the cursor to the proper point. I got to McSwells a little after 8:00.

Saw Rob Norris and Frank Giannini having dinner with 2 friends of theirs. They waved to me through the window as I walked and I stopped by their table and said hello. No sign of brother Frank who’s almost always late. Looking for parking could be a chore so his being tardy was easily forgiven. I got myself a Stella Artois and sat in the lounge area where the big stupid kettles used to be. People were meeting up with friends and family, I sat there eagle eyed for Frank.

As I stepped out for a smoke, I ran into Ira Kaplan in the restaurant, who mentioned my letter in Mojo Magazine from a month or so ago. It seems he was on tour and reading the magazine and laughed when he saw my letter from Hoboken. We chatted for a few minutes, then he went to catch up with other people I headed outside. Andy Peters, former sound man at McSwells back in the day followed me out.

Andy is such a sweetheart. He always was. We caught up on what we were each doing. He took my picture, so I took his. Andy is married, lives in Phoenix and just became a dad 3 weeks ago. His wife, who is so understanding, let him come back east to do the sound at McSwells as well as the big Battery Park show.

Andy has always been a nice guy, back in 1991 he would offer to drive me back to Lodi when I was living with my father for those three agonizing months. He didn’t live anywhere near Lodi. He just couldn’t stand to see me ride into the city to get a bus out of the city. I’ll never forget that.

Jim DeRogatis was there. He writes about music for the Chicago Sun Times. He was with his wife. Jim Testa of Jersey Beat was there and so was Mike Carlucci, formerly of Winter Hours. Mike used to be my guitar teacher, so if any one should be blamed for my guitar playing, talk to him.

Frank showed up and we were chatting in a corner when all of a sudden I was accosted by Meghan Taylor Mastro, still the funniest woman alive.

I love her so much as most everyone who comes in contact with her does. Her husband, my pal, Jim Mastro was there of course. Richard Barone too. It seemed every time I would turn around, another face from the past was there in my line of vision.

I said hello to Brenda and Stan from the Feelies who were both warm and happy to see me. Frank was doing well, holding his own and mingling with various people, no need for me to hover in case he gets stuck on something. It’s the worrier in me I guess. Just keeping an eye on him.

I talked to Georgia Hubley, drummer for Yo La Tengo and also Ira’s wife. I congratulated them for being part of Girl Talk’s latest. They heard about it, but haven’t heard it. Ira mentioned he talked to his publisher about any infringement but it seems Greg Gillis knows the ins and outs of free use and copyrights.

I told Ira and Georgia not to sweat it, they now have street cred. We had a good chuckle about that and I reassured him that he might not get songwriting credit per se, but the fact that Yo La Tengo was mentioned in the 4 star Rolling Stone review should be credit enough. Plus now the kids might know who Yo La Tengo is.

The Feelies soon came on, Frank was in the crowd, Meghan, Jim and myself hung near the back. I saw Bob Lawton who I hadn’t seen in ages, just waved to each other as he walked by. Barre Duryea was road manager for the Feelies and he too mentioned my letter in Mojo. It wasn’t too crowded as it was an invitation only show.

I found myself standing next to an older woman who turned out to be Brenda’s mother. She was very proud of her daughter playing bass and mentioned that it seems the Feelies might have some more life in them yet. I told her she had every reason to be proud of Brenda and that the Feelies got better when she joined. Alice Genese was there as well and she always looks good and it’s always good to see her. Scott Harbison too, not drinking even.

I was being snarky throughout the show, telling Meghan that the Feelies were masters of the slow fade out as they slowly faded out. It was a good show and a really fun time. Jim and Meghan and Frank and myself left at the same time, walking down Washington Street parting ways at Eighth, me walking Frank to his car and directing him out of a tight parking spot.

It was so good that I’m going to check them out on the Fourth of July with Sonic Youth.

The Feelies then

From left, Anton Fier, Bill Million, Glenn Mercer and Keith DeNunzio