Dream

Last night I had a dream that Dhino and I were in Brooklyn with the police officers from the Animal Precinct TV show on Animal Planet network. We all went on a call for a lost elephant and sure enough when we showed up in front of an Indian family’s brownstone, the space on the sidewalk where the elephant usually stands was empty. His footprints were still there but nothing else, even his ankle chain was gone. Humane Law Enforcement officer AnnMarie Lucas started calling people on her two-way radio and the neighbors all came out of their buildings to help look for the elephant. Dhino and I looked around on the ground for clues relating to the disappearance and I started to feel some anxiety because there weren’t any but seeing the dozens of caring people who gathered around AnnMarie for guidance made me feel better. AnnMarie made her announcement to the crowd “Thank you all for being here today. Look, it’s a sunny day so how hard is it going to be to find an elephant in Brooklyn!” And then my alarm went off.

Provincetown

My trip to Provincetown Massachusetts went very well. I’d actually never been there before last week even though I’ve spent a huge amount of time in Boston during the nineties. My High School friend Pat lives there now so I stayed with her in her art studio/apartment. Pat works for Provincetown Magazine as a graphic designer so I spent time with her and her co-workers during carnival while they filmed and photographed the entertainer Charo, who was the grand marshal. The charming atmosphere of New England won me over. I drive an SUV so I could put my bike right into the back and then I had instant transportation around town. A met a bear who walked with me during carnival and later I met a Hawaiian cutie at a tea dance; I tried to talk to him but he had a boyfriend so no go. Hehe But the trip was fun and relaxing. P-town is very artsy and kitschy and now I’m a convert.

The B52's

The B52’s performed a free concert last weekend at the Harry Chapmin Lakeside Theatre in East Meadow, which was hosted by Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. Who got booed as soon as his name was mentioned to the crowd. Bad week on Wall Street I guess. The Bees danced around on stage in loose clothing as they performed such hits as “Roam,” “Rock Lobster” and, the most notable, "Love Shack." As well as two songs from the their latest studio release. I've loved the the B52’s since High School and couldn’t believe I was seeing them live. The guy behind me kept yelling “Cindy! Cindy!” The show was a spectacle for the eyes with the light show and the dancing/action on stage. We didn’t let the rain stop us from singing along and having a good time, and the band appreciated it. The next day on Facebook, the band posted “Great audience last night East Meadow, LI. Crowd was dancing in the rain.”

The Shaggs

I think you could best describe this play as a sort of alternative, underdog story that Jamie and I went to see in the city last month. And it was funny as hell. The Shaggs were an earnest trio of teenage sisters from New Hampshire whose father tried to push them towards musical success believing that his mother foresaw the band’s rise to stardom. It sounds like a recipe for disaster already, right? The girl’s music is, to say it nicely, sounds like a teenage garage band practicing on their first day together. Hacked-at drumbeats, clumsy chords, chaotic arrangements, and lyrics that sound so naïve that it borders on unsettling. And yet there is something kind of interesting going on here with the music. Reportedly, during the recording sessions the band would occasionally stop playing, claiming one of them had made a mistake and that they needed to start over, leaving the sound engineers to wonder how the girls could tell when a mistake had been made.
Fast forward to 1980 when the Rounder Records reissued the band’s album Philosophy of the World and Rolling Stone magazine awarded The Shaggs “Comeback of the Year”. The Shagg’s album has since been regarded as avant-garde cult classic with such notable fans as Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain. Grade B+

Super 8 not so Great

I saw this last month and I really wanted to like this movie because it started off interesting and the kids were kind of funny and entertaining and I love fun summer movies. But as the movie progressed I kept thinking to myself that ….“This part is like Cloverfield, Stand By Me, The Goonies, The Fog, War of the Worlds (also with a Fanning girl), Close Encounters and E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. The ending was exactly like E.T and I didn’t like that especially since ten minutes earlier it was revealed that the monster was catching, hanging and eating the townspeople like what the creature from The Empire Strikes Back did to Luke Skywalker. They glossed over that part as the lead boy, now in the alien’s clutches, was like “I understand your feelings.” I was like get the hell out of here. Sorry but I have to give this movie a fail for being a mishmash of other Steven Spielberg movies.

May 1st's Big News

So you want to ask a native New Yorker about September 11th and Osama bin Laden’s recent death? Well, when they broke the announcement the news on I have to admit that my jaw practically hit the floor. It was like a news update that they had killed the Boogeyman or something. I really never thought that he would be captured or assassinated because since he was hiding in some remote province of Pakistan and because the press reported that he had all these health problems. Osama can’t go to the hospital or a doctor’s office like a regular person so I thought that he would just expire one day and we’d never hear about it anyway. Not with his network of people protecting him and his secrets. Did he die several years ago? Who knows? How will we ever know the truth?
I didn’t jump up and down and I didn’t let loose a stream of profanity against Osama like my brother did but I did feel that there is finally closure for the families of 9/11 victims. It did bring up some phantom feelings of sadness with all the clips they keep showing on TV and the internet of September 11th. Its justice and it does send a strong message to the other countries of the world. But on the other hand, the United States foreign policies are nothing to be exactly proud of either.
“It is in times like these that a line is drawn between critical thinkers and those who get swiped by media crap-storms; Between those who understand the complexity of a situation and those who’d rather not know; Between those who comprehend the underlying motives of the elite and those who go outside chanting “USA! USA!”. – From http://vigilantcitizen.com

Birthday

I forgot to take off work for my birthday but it was just as well since Monday is my busiest work day. It was still a great day because I received text messages, calls and emails. I receive so many wonderful birthday notices on Facebook, I really felt the love from everybody on my special day.