First and foremost - thank you Erik! A prince of hospitality! He let me come back to his pad to spend one last unexpected night on his sofa. I emailed with a bunch of guys in Philadelphia and Washington DC last night...and I'm headed that way via a NJ transit train from Penn station in 3 hours. Sorry to my new friends in Boston...but i'll be back your way in little over a month.
As for last night...I got a bit drunk again...but not by myself! It seems that either all the "Valentines" were shagging or when it snows in nyc that everybody goes hiding
inside and doesn't come out. i went out around midnight and wandered around the empty streets, it was biting cold but had stopped snowing. i ended up at this place on 14th street - along a large apartment complex- called blarney stone or blarney cove or something, a narrow hole in the wall dive with a real-life witch with spiderwebs tattooed around her eye working behind the bar. she was sweet. although the place sounds irish...it most certainly was not!
sitting alone at the counter i met this guy named Jack, he's lived in the city all his life (which i would guess means about 50 years) and by lived i mean Lived It. Lived The Life. he's a drummer and has played with everybody --lou reed, yoko ono, peter gabriel, glenn branca -- and hung with even more people: bowie, allen ginsberg, bill burroughs. he was pissed and having a blast reliving his glory days with an attentive bloke such as myself, all the while spilling his whiskey-on-rocks all over the bar as he tried to steady his shaky hands. he'd ask me if i knew about famous british figures. it was odd. we walked out together around 4...i stumbled blocks to Erik's pad. and i just woke up!
