it started and ended with jimi

so...

gnarls barkley played a free show today at the apple store in soho, nyc. chris renne and dan ballone picked me up a little bit after 5 and we made our way to the city. weather was hot as all hell outside but we had all the windows down on the highway so the wind tunnel was kinda cool and oddly refreshing...especially sitting in the back. (i'm betting it was a little extra cool due to the purple haze i smoked right before getting picked up.)

everything seemed to be going good. we were worried at first that we weren't gonna get there in enough time to get in since we we started out our trip in the middle of rush hour and the show was supposed to start at 7...but there wasn't much traffic at all on the way there and we were making good time. we got to the city and were only a few blocks away when we heard chris' car make a loud, almost metallic sort of noise. i joked at the time that maybe we had run over a robot. if only.

chris parked the car and we got out. when we did, we saw an unhealthy amount of liquid (coolant?) dripping out from under the front of the car. chris popped the hood and saw that a belt had popped or something. we were gonna have to call AAA later to come tow the car home. we managed to stay in gnarls mode and made our way to the apple store.

got there...stood in line...got our passes...went in...went upstairs...waited a few...saw gnarls barkley...cool set...only about 6 songs or so but hey it was free.

we left when it was over and went to some bar/pub and had a beer and something to eat. chris made a few calls trying to find someone to pick us up in denville later on...since that's where he had to get the car towed to. paul nyce said he could prolly do it later on. john blake said he might be able to as well. so we had some options. we headed back to the car.

chris got the AAA info out of his glove box and made the call. i imagined it was prolly gonna be a tight fit with all 3 of us havin to cram in the tow truck with the driver so i said i'd just make my way to penn station and take a train home...why not.

i said my goodbyes and started walkin on my way. i figured i'd head over to 6th avenue and walk through the village...hit up the 9th street PATH train and take it to penn...maybe hit up fat beats on the way...hadn't been there in quite some time.

sign on the door said they were closin at 6 today. oh well. no fat beats. i did notice that there was a big block ad in the window for the new tanya morgan EP that's comin out tho. always good to see talented people finally get some well-deserved shine. especially when they're friends of yours too. good job boys.

i walked around the corner and saw the gate to the PATH station halfway down and a cop standing guard there. i asked him what was up and he said that all the trains runnin up and down 6th avenue were down for the night...somethin bout a power failure. i was gonna have to find another way uptown.

that's when the crazy winds started. it was about to pour. hard. thunder in the distance. lightning all over. wind blowing shit everywhere. walkin in it was kinda fun except for the dust i kept gettin in my eyes. plus i was excited about the rain coming. it had been hot as fuck all day and i didn't even care if i got wet.

i did. real wet. like just-jumped-in-a-swimming-pool wet. when i felt i had had enough, i hailed a taxi to take me the rest of the way. when i got out of the taxi in front of penn station, the rain had already stopped. weird.

i made my way inside only to look at the board and see that all trains to dover had been delayed. whatever...must be cos of the thunderstorms back in jersey too...i can wait. i went into the book/magazine shop and looked around for something to read on the way back home. none of the magazines looked interesting enough to buy and i didn't really feel like settling on a newspaper so i looked at the books. they had a nice selection. i bought 'the road' by cormac mccarthy (author of 'no country for old men'). i had been meanin to pick it up for awhile since i heard it was really good so i figured what better time than now.

got myself an iced coffee from dunkin donuts...went outside...smoked a cigarette...came back in...bought a ticket from one of the machines...sat down where i could get a good view of the board so i could see when the delays stopped...started reading...

a nice chunk of time passed. finally the board updated. the word 'delayed' was replaced by the word 'cancelled'. and not just on the one dover train. on all of them. i walked up to one of the counters to see what was up. i cut a whole buncha people in line by doing so but i didn't really care. the lady behind the window told me that a tree had fallen on some power lines somewhere along the tracks that go to dover and that no trains would go there tonite at all. my first thought was "fuck". my second thought was "gimme a refund for my ticket". while i was filling out the refund form i called chris to see if they were still waiting for the tow truck...which they were...and could i slide in with them after all...which i couldn't. he had talked to the guy that was coming for them and he said that only 2 people would be able to fit.

fuck.

i got off the phone and got my refund. the lady said that i could take a train to newark penn station and then take a bus from there to summit but that summit would be the closest to dover i could possibly get tonight. i said what the hell and bought a ticket. summit is a lot closer to home than new york city.

i got on the train to newark without a plan and started lookin through my phone for someone i could ask to maybe pick me up in summit. i called john weiland . i told him the whole crazy story. he laughed and said yeah he'd pick me up. cool. awesome. thank you man.

i got off the train in newark and found my way to the buses. the lady said bus number 70. i looked a the board. no bus number 70. i asked one of the workers out there. the last number 70 bus of the night had left like a half hour ago.

fuck.

i called john back and told him the latest crazy twist. no big deal, he said. he'd pick me up in newark. cool. awesome. thank you man.

i waited there for an hour or so for john to get there while i read. this book is really good. i'm only a little into it but already i would recommend. i wanna read more from him. i like his style.

john finally got there. we made our way to the highway. we smoked a celebratory bowl of the aforementioned purple haze. he drove me home. i'm home. thank freakin god.

editor's note: i talked to chris right before typing this. they're on the side of the highway. the tow truck that came to get them broke down. they're waiting for another tow truck to come get that tow truck that came to get them. no lie. their night has been just as crazy if not more since we parted ways. he's written something about it already. you can read it here if you feel so inclined.

i'm ova hea now

hey check me out...i'm officially a blogger.

i'm still not sure why...or what i plan on doing with this page...i guess we'll just see what happens.

i figure i'm already enough of an internet whore...why not have sex with this site as well?

or at the very least stick my fingers in.

yeah blogspot...you like that don't you...