now playing: marty higgins, “don’t you notice”
so, it would appear that today is Prog-Rock Day at the Hong Kong Buffet.
i walked in and was greeted by a bombastic soundtrack, replete with the necessary combination of Yamaha CP-70 electric grand and Minimoog, majestic drum fills, and very genesis/marillion-esque vocals in a language i couldn’t quite place…it was almost (but not quite) as surreal as the time i went there for lunch and they were playing karaoke versions of soft rock hits of the seventies over the speakers. believe me,please come to boston just ain’t the same without the vocals.
for some reason, though, i just wasn’t into it. i had originally thought about going to fiore’s for my weekly pasta fix, but i knew i had to go to the phillies box office to pick up tickets for sunday, so i postponed fiore’s and went for chinese instead. i had one plate and that was all i could take.
then i got this cryptic fortune cookie (and – did you know that if the cookie lies on top of your check at just the right angle, it says “fort cook” on the wrapper? cool, huh?) – it read as follows:
“constant grinding can turn an iron rod into a needle.”
now is that a lesson in persistence, or a warning, or just some drug-induced introspection? i don’t really know, personally.
the chinese word on the back was a translation of “lawyer”. so maybe i got maryann’s fortune by mistake.
then i get back to work and am greeted by this email:
“In the middle of the night, I was walking by the sea, and baby baluga jumped out from amongst the bushes. SO one day Mr. Gregor exclaimed “Why do skater normals have no preppy either?!?!?!” So I wanted to watched. or Maybe if I wanted to watch it then I had a dream that countless historian lost their credit but i dont Remember what it was. I don’t like you but can I have your autograph. No one wants your autograph so I started to cry in the pizza shop. Where did Ryan go? He must have moved to Ohio.”
yeah, that’s all it said.
i dunno…maybe ryan moved to ohio to be a lawyer, but got a job in a machine shop makin’ needles.
or maybe i’m just being attacked by nonsensical shit from all sides today.
to add to this insanity, i dreamed last night that i was living back in the house i shared with the kids’ mom on belvedere avenue, but it was just me…and i was sitting at the kitchen table talking to don henley about something…and he was about 20 or so. and one minute we were talking and it was quite comfortable, and it hit me that don henley was sitting at my kitchen table – so i asked him if he would be into coming out and sitting in with me during one of my happy hour gigs.
we worked out the details and i got out my guitar and we started going over vocal parts on a couple of songs – then the dream did a fade into me standing next to a pickup truck in a parking lot. i was standing by the drivers’ side door, talking to bob otto (a music afficionado who works in the engineering department here) and tom del colle (former bartender at the grape street pub), and i told them they should stop by my next gig, ‘cuz i had a special guest coming…then i vaguely remember walking into the club with don, but it wasn’t the place i’ve been playing – it bore a strange resemblance to a barroom i used to play in as a teenager back in tennessee.
then (thank God) i woke up.
there’s something about being as close to the poco fold as i am that makes me feel like something of a traitor for having those thoughts.
anyway…
there is much to report right now, but i find that i have little to say about any of it at the moment…this will, of course, change at some point in the not-too-distant future.
...from the rear view mirror 