Elevator Walls

One day a big rain will come and wash all of the elevator pad nuisance out of every elevator in New York City that doesn’t have people moving in or out. That will be the day. I am already forming the memorial committee. I will post a community bulletin: “Elevator Liberated from Padded Cell Look.” Gotta apply for that stimulus money and I’ll be set.

Post About Post-Pagoda

Having been in a few bands, I know how clubs can rip off the artists and keep most of the door money. Knowing that I probably didn’t do all I could’ve to promote the show, I gave almost all the money to Pagoda and Investigative Reports. So much for being a promoter. Seriously though, we’re going to get the Sunday matinees going one of these days.

Talking to people later, some people liked Pagoda more and some people liked Investigative Reports more. (By the way, if your band is hard to find on the internet, you need a new name.) Different strokes for different folks as Mom and Grandma used to say. I liked them both. Hanging out with Michael Pitt afterward was pretty cool. I forgot my camera but got a kick out of some Columbia kids getting their picture with him. Rather disappointing that he threw his voice out so soon and played such a short set. I know someone was shooting video and taking pictures so as soon as I find those, I’ll update this.

Playing Ping Pong for the Coach

I learned how to play ping pong on a permanent metal table bolted on a deck in the park behind my house. At night, the sprinkers would leave puddles of water on the table causing the table top to rust and blister. When it got bad enough, a new sheet of metal would be installed with a fresh coat of industrial paint. While the ball didn’t bounce exactly like it does on a wood table (or sound the same), I got good enough at it to where I came in fourth place in the city ping pong tournament. Okay, table tennis, whatever.

The paddles and the net for table provided by a park director who all the kids called “coach.” Coach also provided crayons, construction paper, popsicle sticks, Carroms, chess, checkers, backgammon, playing cards, cribbage, Parcheesi, Trouble, Sorry, basketballs, kickballs, four-square balls, softballs, bats, bases, footballs, flags (tackle football was frowned upon), frisbees, and sometimes donated tennis balls and rackets. I remember the mildewy smell of the coach’s office like Marcel Proust and a lot of the coach’s names: Curt, Pam, Karl, Gary, Jan. My family went to one of their weddings.

When Proposition 9 passed (California) and all of Coach’s salary went kaput, I lost a small piece of faith in humanity.  I couldn’t understand how my city would get rid of all of the city park’s coaches. I felt like my city and state didn’t care about kids. That ping pong table is gone and the city doesn’t even hold ping pong tournaments anymore. You can still be a ping pong champion out of your own pocket, I suppose.

With all of the handwringing over Obama’s stimulus package, get over it. It will be stimulating.

Update: Jay breaks it down in hard numbers.

See also this debunking of the right’s perpetual FDR myths.

Leave of Absence Overwith

Crappy cell phone pictures are back. I’m back. Gonna put batteries back in my camera and kick some ass.

By the way, the last season of Battlestar Galactica is jumping the shark. I disagree with the prehistoric actor’s assessment of the newer version but I think the writer’s strike completely ruined the new stuff.

And I hope 24 jumps its 59th shark as soon as possible.

I believe I gave Jay his first writing job. He’s back since getting laid off of NBC. Check his blog out please.

Goodbye to a Huge Embarrassment

Last night, I was discussing with friends whether Barack Obama has ever been cheesy. Smile at the camera and say cheese! He is good at that. You could argue the train tour to Washington following Lincoln’s route is a bit cheesy. Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention featured some pretty bombastic and cheesy staging effects. You can talk about some gaffes that were exploited by the opposition and quoted out-of-context. Were they curdling or cringe-worthy? Presidential public relations spin is an old game and the winners are the ones who spend more time on spin than on counter-spin.

Pundits on the right and left are already exclaiming over the change in tone that is descending on Washington. To call it a breath of fresh air is understatement. Anyone can edit together a video of “uh…. uh…” and other stuttering from the podium, however, Obama is never going to rise to the level of red-faced, jaw-dropping, eye-rolling idiocy and embarrassment that George W. Bush has provided the world with for eight years. (h/t David Letterman)