Tag Archives: Tom Waits

Here Come July

And it’s raining again. There is no surprise in that. I just got back from Manhattan, this time I was prepared. I wore a full body wet suit, pinstriped of course.

I did finally hear from Vivek. He made it in long enough to fill a basket full of rice pudding pops. He actually called me letting me know that he was going into the office to do it.

Presently on the phone with an irate Julio who is trying to use his credit card points to rent a car while he’s in Spain and he is meeting with tremendous difficulty. Of course I hear all about it. I don’t mind. He’ll have to listen to my tales of woe eventually. Took a lot out of me to listen to his aggravation but that’s what friends do.

Last night I heard from Billie in DC and he had his own tale of woe. His car was stolen a while back. That worked out fine, the insurance paid more than what the car was worth. He also invited Bill and I down for a weekend in the autumn which was nice. We’ll have to work that out somewhere down the line.

Today I headed into Manhattan, wearing work boots and carrying a big umbrella. It didn’t look like rain as I waited for the bus, and it was 91 degrees and quite humid. As I walked across town I ran into an old friend, Corey Williams who I used to work with at Arista Records.

Hadn’t seen Corey in a few years. He and his wife Ann Marie had a baby boy a few weeks ago, named Corey. He’s still at Atlantic Records, been trying to get out of there for 6 years. He’s still looking though.

We talked for almost a half hour by which time it looked like it was going to rain any minute now. We parted ways, I wished him and his family well. He’s such a good guy. Hard to believe I’ve known him about 15 years.

He’s also friends with my friend Miriam who just had a baby girl a week or so ago. Baby crazy these people are.

I made it to the office, collected my mashed potato dances and was soon outdoors again just as it started to rain.

I did have a tentative plan to meet an online friend that I’ve chatted with for years at the Cigar Inn on Second Avenue so that’s where I headed. Nice lounge for smoking cigars, I used to go there with a former co-worker when times were better.

Tom was the friend’s name and it was finally good to meet him in the flesh after years of chit chat. He was in town running around and while doing that got caught in the rain storm. We sat and talked for an hour or so, about music and cigars. We like them both.

After that I walked him over to Grand Central Station since I had a big umbrella and he didn’t. I’m pretty sure he appreciated it, plus it was on my way anyhow.

Walked over to the Path which wasn’t as crowded as I anticipated for a Friday afternoon. Had a seat and read The Low Side of the Road by Barney Hoskyns. It’s an unauthorized biography on Tom Waits that I got from the Hoboken library.

I was reading Transformer: The Story of Lou Reed by Victor Bockris but Tom Waits is a much more interesting character, and I much prefer Barney Hoskyns writing to Victor Bockris.

So that’s about it, I’m spent. Tomorrow I’m going with Meghan, Lily & Ruby to All Points West. That should be fun. I’ll tell you all about it, either tomorrow or Sunday.

Fish and Bird

Back to work today. It has to be done I know. But some good news, my brother in law Rex has had yet another procedure for his heart and hopefully this will be the procedure that mends his heart perfectly. Crossed fingers on this end. Last night, pretty mellow. Though I only rode the bike about 5 miles I took it easy and for a brief spell I was a zombie. I wrote, which you hopefully read.

Played Tom Waits, Alice. Perfect for a summer evening. No TV on just the tapping of the keys and the sounds of Tom singing and playing in the way that only he can. Bill even liked it somewhat when he came home. I put on Swordfishtrombones after that. Bill was on his laptop with his headphones on so he didn’t hear that.

I decided to take a walk to the post office and drop off a Netflix rental. Walked by that certain bar where an alpha male with a capital A minds the door. He looks at me, I look at him. I drool, he stares. I keep walking, he stands by the door. Really a hottie though. I know he works on Sunday evenings and thats when I usually find a reason to walk down Washington Street.

A few bars have big guys like that outside their doors, but they’re out too late for me. This guy is usually out at 6:30. He looked like this a few weeks ago, yesterday he had a haircut. No pic since that would have required a flash, and if you know me, you know I’m not flashy. Nor am I “that guy”.

The streets were super crowded with people headed to the last night of the Madonna Del Martiri feast. Fireworks were promised and I guess that’s what they were headed towards. Came back after ogling some man flesh.

Bill still on the couch, no TV on. I turned on the warm up show for True Blood, the new series from Alan Ball, the Six Feet Under creator. Bill immediately warmed up to it. I didn’t know he was interested in vampires but apparently he is. We watched the series premiere and it was very good.

I think we’re hooked. Definitely has a sensual edge to it and who doesn’t love Anna Paquin? She won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for the Piano. Knowing Alan Ball’s standards I’m sure it will be an excellent series. The hour flew by much to Bill’s surprise.

After that it was Entourage which was also very good. Let’s face it, it’s basically Jeremy Piven’s show, since he gets the best lines. Definitely fun to watch Vinnie Chase and Turtle having a good time down in Mexico. I could easily see Bill and myself living like that on a beach in Mexico, surrounded by girls with fake boobs in bikinis.

Sure it would be hell and I would certainly need plenty of sunblock by the truckload.

Some strangeness at work for sure. Lack of communication and an overall feeling of weirdness. It’s uncomfortable but I’m going to hang in there as long as I can. Should be interesting and something to write about.

Juan is here and we’re chillin. He has a mohawk, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. No pictures though, he’s squeamish.