It sure has been a busy couple of weeks. Where do i start? Well, the aforementioned GIRL HARBOR had a show a couple of weeks ago at LUXX, a fine rock venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It happened to fall on Robin's birthday, so we surprised her with a birthday song: "Know Your Product", an obsure track by late '70s Australian punk band the Saints (one of her favorites). The best part is, since the original song has a horn section, i got to play saxophone! I think this was my first ever public saxophone performance, and i think it went well, other than my nice shirt getting way too sweaty, as you can see.
l. to r.: my uncle, some guy, girl i used to go to school with
Incidentally, i still owe this library a book from 1980 ...
I might as well tell you about an interesting encounter i had at a local neighborhood pub, Teddy's. It was Friday nite, and i was in to grab a burger and watch part of the Mets game. I took the only empty seat at the bar, next to a big bald fellow in probably his late 50s, smoking a cigar, drinking some red wine and watching the Mets game, even though he "hates the Mets." He was instantly one of those friendly and talkative, but conversation-dominating and overly opinionated, fellows you come across in Brooklyn, and a former professional football coach at that. He had quite a few tales of granduer, including:
- How he co-founded the European Football League
- How he used to room with Oakland Raiders legend John Matusak, and how their first encounter entailed him telling John off on the practice field while John was holding him off the ground by his jersey
- How he was with John when he once drove the coach's car into the school cafeteria
- How he volunteered down at the World Trade Center site, until he got in a fight with the "donut eating" cops
- How Mets pitcher John Franco thanks him for getting him out of football and into baseball
- How Ball Four author Jim Bouton is a "sick f*ck" who he nonetheless respects for "telling it like it is"
- Etc.
- Etc.
- Etc.
As of yet, i've been unable to find anything on Nexis to determine on the veracity of his yarns - i mean, he may have been telling the truth. Who knows? Regardless, he was a likable character, and he did say two memorably, unintentionally funny things:
A) While in the middle of describing how he went to a small town college (Adams St. in Alamosa, CO, incidentally) and there wasn't much to do there, he described it as being a "sedimentary life."
2) He spoke about his affinity for maps, and how he "really should have been a calligrapher."
Priceless. He's at Teddy's every Thursday and Friday, sitting at the bar, griping about life. Ask for Buck if you want to chat.
My downstairs neighbor surprised me by leaving me a stack of records that he was getting rid of. Most of them are pretty crappy, but he did have a copy of the Pink Lady record (which is actually pretty crappy, too), and a compilation record named A La Carte. It was released in 1979 and featured "Rock Lobster" among others, but is most notable for it's cover - 6 busty women in cocktail dresses, smiling and holding trays of hors d'ouvers. I was pretty psyched until i realized they weren't the band. But i digress ...
Christ, i should probably go to bed now, but before i do, here's a picture of Jersey City's own Kevin Dailey, enjoying a cosmopolitan at 7B on a Sunday night. I'll have more for you this weekend; after all, i haven't even gotten to Josh Johnson's visit yet ...
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