Tag Archives: West New York

Here at the Western World

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Right now, watching the news. A John Fried in North Bergen has been fighting for four years against the 12 story buildings they are planning on raising alongside the Hudson River.

It will effectively block his view of the river and Manhattan. I don’t have any pity for him.

When he moved there did he actually think he was going to have the view for ever from his townhouse condo? No vista protections, they’ve lost in court and they’re going to appeal. Living in such a crowded area such as this, it is bound to happen sooner or later.

Plus these condos are just so nondescript they can only be described as ugly.

Other than that, it’s been a quiet day. Lot’s of people off of work wandering around Washington Street. It’s President’s Day. Banks are closed, no mail delivery.

I did have tentative plans to go visit Harpy but he never called. It’s a similar tale to the one that Harpy tells, of hearing from Susan who wants to get together and then doesn’t call when the scheduled day arrives. I didn’t mind.

I stopped by to see Stine and Alexander but they weren’t around. Yesterday I bought a bucket of chalk. I only wanted one piece so I left the rest outside their door on the third floor.

My friend Chris, who lives around the block had posted on her Facebook page that she misses her secret valentine. A neighbor who recently passed away would always write a Valentine’s Day message for her.

I decided to make a few hearts in chalk on her front steps and on the sidewalk in front of her building yesterday. This morning she thanked on her page, whomever it was that made all the hearts for Valentine’s Day.

I clicked that I liked her post and she asked if it was me so I had to own up for it. It was nice to do and I’m glad she appreciated it.

Last night Bill and I settled in to watch the second DVD of Zack & Miri Make a Porno. Lot’s of extras and deleted scenes. Bill of course loved it and now would like to work for Kevin Smith.

And Kevin Smith was on the news today after getting booted from a Southwest Airline flight because the pilot felt Kevin Smith was overweight and thus, a danger for the flight. It was repeated ad infinitum on most of the news reports today.

I started watching My Dinner with Andre earlier today but decided to make dinner for myself. What I did catch was fascinating and plan to watch it from the beginning later on tonight after Keith Olbermann.

Olbermann will probably have something to say about Kevin Smith no doubt.

The odds are in my favor. Another snowstorm is headed this way supposedly. 4 to 5 inches are expected. Nothing yet though.

Tomorrow I have another beauty school scheduled. This time on Bergenline Avenue in West New York. It was rescheduled after last weeks snowstorm, so I guess what happens tonight will effect tomorrow.

But isn’t that always the case?

Slow Dive

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Well in case you didn’t know, the Yankees won last night. The World Series. Bill was thrilled. I was online, wearing headphones. Even if it were the Mets or another team I would likely be at the computer wearing headphones.

Bill watched the game in the bedroom while he was putting away his laundry, I watched the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. I offered him the chance to watch the game on the big TV and I sat and listened to music.

I didn’t do much of anything today, except argue with christianists online. That can get so tedious, mainly because their lack of spell check. Now I’m listening to the Minutemen, one of the best bands I ever saw at McSwells. Posted a few videos on YouTube which should get the curiosity of a few people and perhaps annoy other people.

So for lack of something substantial to write, I’ll write about what I listened to last night. I started off with Be Brave by Section 25. I first heard the song when I was hanging out with a character named Dave Bell.

It stayed with me long after hanging out with Dave Bell and in fact a few years later I asked Mojo Magazine, “what song went ‘Oh Happiness, You always made me laugh/Oh happiness…’” An issue or so later I found my answer, and wound up buying it from iTunes. I love it when Mojo publishes my letters. So far they’ve done it 3 times.

It seemed to be a good fit, to follow Section 25 with Tomorrow Never Knows from the Beatles. It’s quite possible that Tomorrow Never Knows is my favorite Beatles song. It’s a good marker that shows the divide of the 1960’s, being the last song on Revolver. The next songs from the Beatles after that was Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane.

Still I’ll take Tomorrow Never Knows. From there I went to Smells Like Teen Spirit from Nirvana, another band that played McSwells and were nowhere near as good as the Minutemen. My specific memory of that is coming home to Weehawken with William after visiting Connie down the shore in 1991.

It must have been in the waning months of the year. The song blew me away, I hadn’t heard anything quite like it at the time. It’s still quite an amazing song. Too bad it became an albatross for Kurt Cobain, but them’s the breaks.

Black Mirror by Arcade Fire was next up. It was a decent fit after Nirvana. I don’t think I played it since I saw them at Radio City with my brother Frank. Can’t really get into them anymore. That’s how it is for me. Something bad happens while I listen to a song and I can never really enjoy the song, or in this case, the band, anymore.

Don’t get me started about Elton John’s Blue Moves. I haven’t played that since 1976.

Then I went to the live version of Talking Heads The Great Curve. Don’t know why, but it was a lot of fun to bop my head and tap my feet while listening to it with Bill watching the game a few feet behind me. I also think it’s a good thing that Talking Heads will never reunite again.

I sort of broke my avoidance of Prince and played Glam Slam which out of all the songs that I played for myself, was the weakest. I was choosing by album titles and not artist names. But you know, John said ‘enough’ and it was over quickly.

Slow Dive by Siouxsie and the Banshees was a great 1980’s track. I saw the Banshees a few times back in the day, though I can’t say I was a rabid Banshees fan. Budgie was a great drummer though and the late John McGeoch was tops in the guitar department, though he doesn’t play on Slow Dive I think.

Can’t You Hear Me Knocking by the Rolling Stones was cued up next and being a 7 minute song, I stretched my legs, had some juice and had a pee. TMI?

Well that was about it for last night. A not very interesting night but the music was alright I think.