Month: October 2009

First. I’ve written many times about the Loser’s Lounge, I even did an NPR piece about the Loser’s Lounge way back, so it goes without saying that you should never miss a Loser’s Lounge. Period.

But the Loser’s Lounge always introduces me to great singers around the city, and at the last Loser’s Lounge, the tribute to David Bowie, I heard a singer called Paul Stovall, who is going to be at Joe’s Pub on November 30th. From the show description:

“CLEAR, a new musical experience by Paul Oakley Stovall. Chosen as resident artist at Eugene O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference, Stovall presents a sneak preview of this opera poem … Come on this journey with Stovall and his band of five (feat. Ryan Link, Yassmin Alers and Brad Simmons), as they lead you from the South Side of Chicago to the rooftops of Stockholm, from an ER in Minneapolis to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.”

Info and tickets here.

That reminds me, I’m posting too late about a Manhattan Valley Ramblers gig that was yesterday, alas, but half of the band, John Saroyan, will be performing in New Orleans on Hazel the Delta Rambler’s old time country and bluegrass show on Sunday October 18. I’m listening to this station now and it’s GREAT. But to hear John, tune in to www.wwoz.org between 11 am and 1 pm on October 18. Just click that “Listen online” button.

UPDATE: The Manhattan Valley Ramblers will be playing on October 30 at the Good Coffeehouse (53 Prospect Park West at 2nd Street in Park Slope). John is putting more songs up on their web page.

The never ending to-do list. And yet I feel like I’m not doing much these days. I’m in a “wait” state which feels purposeful, and yet I don’t know what I’m waiting for. I hope this is genuine intuition and not avoidance.

Anyway. Here’s another example of the picture that was a mistake is better than the picture I had intended. I was taking a picture of these signs, printing, stationary, it’s largely a bygone era which I remember fondly. I remember my first stationary, with my name on it, in script, writing letters, sealing them with wax.

But because the lens on my camera is wide I also got the scene below, which is really more interesting, and more full of life. I should have zeroed in on the hot dog man.

I’m now obessessed with this perfume I just caught a whiff of called Beauty by Estee Lauder. It was from one of those perfume strips in People which normally are annoying, but I love this scent.

I must have it. I must figure out a way to earn some extra cash so I don’t feel guilty.

Here are the current perfumes I own.

– First by Van Cleef and Arpels, an old, all-time-favorite.

– Verbena by L’Occitane, which smells perfectly like lemons, which I adore and puts me in an automatic good mood except the scent only lasts a few seconds, literally, so it is a very short good mood.

– That last on the right came in a gift basket and I haven’t actually used it yet. It’s a vanilla scent which I don’t normally like, but this one was very subtle. It smells … clean.

Anyway, I want Beauty.

Note to self: Get name right. It’s Beautiful, not Beauty. Thank you, Carol.

My friend Howard had an operation on his foot. He’s out of commission for three months.

Hey. Now’s the time to steal his stuff.

And leave him with no food.

Getting warmed up now: we could also hide the remote, remove all toilet paper. And books. Oh God, we could release ticks that would make their way inside the cast. ACK. I can’t believe I thought of that. We’ll have to install a webcam to watch the result of that, though.

Hey Howard, I’m going to walk today. Right now I am jumping up and down, alternating the foot I land on.

Okay, I’m done. Today is a day off for me. I’m going to catch up on my People magazines, and TV, and eat cheese and bread all day.

I feel a little guilty because this weekend is open house weekend, which I didn’t know until today. But a bunch of places in all boroughs open up for tours, some not so interesting because you can go there anytime, but some are more inviting either because they aren’t open for visitors usually, or I’d never known about them before, or they have someone knowledgeable giving a tour, and so on.

Oh, now I’ve got Frank Sinatra in my head. Not complaining, he’s not a bad singer to have in your head.

So, I took these a couple of weeks ago. They’re looking down into the east side of the WTC site. They don’t exactly match up because I wasn’t thinking I’d do this before and after thing later.

God I’m feeling tired. I think I must have SWINE FLU. Nonetheless, I have errands to run, people to infect.