flyering away

I became one of those ubiquitous people on the streets of NYC who insist on giving you a piece of paper. I was handing out postcards advertising today's sample sale at the corner of Broadway and Houston in Soho.

I was handing them out alongside a guy handing out menus for his uncle's Polish restaurant. The guy said that tomorrow he goes back to Poland. We agreed that we had different enough products so there was no competition.

Greyhound adventures -- with a farmer and antiwar protestors! YEAH!

Adventures on the bus back from Richmond, VA: We stopped in DC and picked up a bunch of antiwar protestors. Then, somewhere in Stevensville, MD (very rural) our busdriver gets lost and there is an oil leak. He pulls into this tiny little road where no way can he turn this bus around and drives across some farmer's lawn. The farmer and his wife come out of the house, dressed for bed (it's only 8p) and see a bunch of protestors on the lawn (they got off the bus with their anti-Bush picket signs). They call the cops, their neighbor drives his pick-up truck over and blocks the bus in front so we can't turn around.

It basically took 11 hours to get to NYC from DC, and we got Domino's to deliver to our broken-down bus. One guy took photos of us with his digital camera (the series is called "Bus Difficulties") and will e-mail them to me. We pretty much became the party bus while stranded but we are all going to try to get our $$ back from Greyhound.

Maybe Domino's should merge with Greyhound -- that way the buses will run on time! But the bathrooms will smell even worse (heh heh heh).

Nature always prevails

I was inthe dank nasty 68th Street subway station at 9:30p and I saw a firefly float by. It was nice and calming. Amazing how nature always wins through Man's steel and concrete.

I guess the same theory applies to all those elephant rats I see in the subway as well. C'est la vie.

Lawn care instructions

I was on E. Houston Street by Avenue A in the Village when I saw a sign on a building that read:

"Keep On Grass".

Rock on.

Save CBGB!

CBGB is a New York institution --- possibly the dankest and smelliest one we have! This club is located at 315 Bowery in the Village, and where 1980s groups like Blondie and the Ramones first got their start. They have lost their lease and are still holding on, and you can sign an online petition to help save the club at:

www.cbgb.com

Now, most people who profess to like 1980s punk seem to be born between 1979 and 1987 (whatever) and don't know that Blondie is more than one person and that most of the Ramones are dead. And they say the children are our future.

On that note: JDM once trained Joey Ramone for a few sessions, and my friend CSF met him when he was a valet for CBGB. My most famous training clients have only been Pauly Shore and Estelle Parsons, and that was for only one session each. Oh well.

Save CBGB! Even you children! Sign the petition!

Throwback to the 1980s

The warehouse is stiuated near Penn Station, right in the Garment District (not that we call them "garments" anymore.) Our street is full of wholesale vendors of handbags, shoes, jewelery and furs.

On W. 30th Street, there is a fur store called "Fursherrrrrr" a la the Vallery Girl speak that emerged in 1981.

Art world hapenings

I am back at the warehouse for a temporary job. One of my coworkers, M, is an artist. She does needlepoints of original works, with a gay/lesbian theme. Her works are featured with several other female artists' in "Bonds of Love", an exhibit in an art gallery in the neighborhood of Chelsea. The NY Times gave them a bad review today.

Coincidentally, there was an art theft at that galery today -- and they stole M's needlepoint! The gallery called her, she had to call her insurance company.

Then, an hour later, the needlepoint was anonymously returned to the gallery. They are still pursuing their suspects, but are glad to get the work back.

When it get returned, an art collector visiting the gallery was so intrigued by the story that he immediately bought the stolen and returned needlepoint!

And some people think needlepoints are boring.

Concert for Hurricane Katrina sufferers

Fats Domino (who was rescued from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans after he had been missing a few days) is holding a benefit concert on September 30th at Madison Square Garden. It's called "Big Apple to the Big Easy" and the money will go to the people suffering in Louisiana, Mississippi and the displaced who went to Texas for safety.

www.thegarden.com

Help Hurricane Katrina victims

New Orleans is a lively gorgeous city that has been hit with an epic hurricane, most of the city is underwater and the majority of its residents have evacuated. However, there are still the dead and the dying who have stayed behind, and trained personnel is searching for them.

If you want to aid the residents of New Orleans, www.amazon.com is hosting a link on its site for donations.