|
|
 |
|
 |
Wednesday,
December 28, 2005 at 16:25:00 (EST) |
 |
Girl you know it's true
I am not dead. I am just in Cleveland.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
 |
|
 |
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Tuesday, December
20, 2005 at 11:28:57 (EST) |
|
But who defends the workers who cannot
organize?
While we try to get our wits about us
during this strike, I'd like to point out that Motico's
last show of the year, although in Manhattan, is still eminently
reachable to our Brooklyn fans. If you check the map below,
you will see the 169
Bar is mere blocks from either the Manhattan and Williamsburg
Bridges. In fact, the bar is so close to Brooklyn that one
will actually have to backtrack a little bit once off the
bridge. So if the strike persists through Thursday, you will
yet have no excuse for missing the gig.
We'll be transporting as many of our fans as possible in
the SPS/Moticomobile, but obviously there will be limits.
So strap on your neglected rollerblades and coast over the
bridge to Chinatown. I recommend the Manhattan Bridge for
wheeled commuters; it's the flattest and smoothest (I can't
stand the inclines on the Williamsburg Bridge or the wooden
slats and tourists on the Brooklyn). But do what you have
to to get there! You may have to do some things you never
thought you'd be willing to do before.
Dag, that map really does make things look really close.
Sadly, the trick is you've got to get to the bridge first.
I know exactly one (1) person who lives right next to the
bridge, everybody else has a hefty walk/bicycle ride ahead
of them. Let's hope somebody is running subway trains very
soon. I don't care if they deputize the homeless and put them
in the operator's compartments, let's just get them going!
How tough can it be, since they were planning on removing
humans from all aspects of train operation anyway? Bring on
the Age of Robots!
This reminds me of the Air Traffic Controllers' strike
in the 80s, another illegal strike. In a prototypical version
of "Compassionate Conservatism" President Reagan
fired nearly everybody. Could that happen here? In that incident,
public approval fell sharply against the strikers; here things
seems divided, but not for long. Nobody likes the MTA, we're
all glad to see somebody stick it to them. But the Union's
demands seem unrealistic, plus we're all getting the feeling
that Roger Toussaint doesn't really speak for all of the union
members. It's hard to remember a time when unions were actually
purely benevolent forces that did only good for the workers.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Friday, December
16, 2005 at 12:25:25 (EST) |
|
It's like Christmas in December
Buzz and Sylvie enjoy a hearty chuckle
over the limited transit strike
James and Martha, formerly of Windsor Terrace, are back in
town for the season from London. We hung out last night and
for a brief moment there were 5 Mentor High School alumni
all in each other's presence. As you might imagine, it was
and awe-inspiring sight. I can think of 3 other people off
the top of my head who I knew from high school who live here
now, but that's it. A surprising number of people still live
in Mentor, Ohio, or its environs, a thought that never ceases
to give me the willies.
Speaking of willies, here's something else that sends shivers
down my spinal fluid: I may be getting a permanent job. Not
to jinx it or anything, but it appears that after 5+ years
of perma-temping, my host employer has actually posted a job
opening that is basically exactly what I do. It's a good thing
my boss clued me into it before I saw it on a public listing,
or I'd just think they were trying to replace me altogether.
But barring any super-achiever, fresh out of Computer College,
who happens to be as talented as I with typing numbers on
a screen AND has the same intimate knowledge of the staff
as I, coming along to apply for it, the job shall be mine.
Oh yes. It shall be mine.
This is good, of course, for reasons of job security and
getting my mother to stop telling me to go to law school.
But it could be bad for these reasons:
- Increased expectations, in that I'd no longer be a contractor
and should therefore have some kind of integrity in my work
- I would be hired to work for one department instead of
several as I do now, so I could no longer beg off work by
pretending other dept's are breathing down my neck
- I may have to work *gulp* in an office and not at home
Obviously, this 3rd possibility is the one that spooks me
the most. Having been off the beaten path workwise for pretty
much the last few years has left me stunted and poorly socialized.
I don't know if I still have any "office clothes,"
since I have recently been buying most of my clothes at army
surplus stores and costume sales. Plus, what if I wanna take
a cat nap in the middle of the day? Will this be frowned upon?
Can I bring a hot plate in and cook lunch, as I am wont to
do at home? Is it permissible to bring the cat(s) with me
to the office?
I'm not sure if these are the questions I should be asking
right now, but it's been even longer since I applied for a
job. I don't even know where to begin with that. I can say
at least that yesterday I updated my resume for the first
time in over five years. It's amazing how little I've accomplished
in that time.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Tuesday, December
06, 2005 at 01:01:29 (EST) |
|
Barely legal
We also caught Beat
the Devil the other night. Dig the harmonium!
In case anybody might be interested, I am happy to announce
that Asterisk is back and hosting shows again.
Apparently they had a halloween show but besides that, they
haven't done anything in over 4 months. Since Todd
P's space is still up in the air (or not), we've all been
deprived of our two favorite semi-legal performance spaces.
So it was a lovely surprise to find it was back open and having
a fun show this past Saturday. First we stopped off at the
Lucky
Cat to see Stay
Fucked, always a balm for the soul. I'm not sure I understand
why they aren't more famous at this point. In five years,
every Smartguy in town is gonna be saying, "Oh yeah,
I used to see Stay Fucked at all these little hole-in-the-wall
venues, and now they're huge ..." Better get out to the
shows now so you can build your indie street cred!
 Asterisk
was also a fun time as ever. But does anybody know how well
dogs deal with noise and crowds? They have this pit-bull type
of dog who constantly runs around in whatever room has the
most people and the loudest music. At first we thought she
was confused and unable to find her way out, but she kept
doing this, even when the crowd thinned out and she could
have easily gotten to the door. Do dogs have an ability to
block out loud noises or something? Or maybe she's just deaf
to begin with. That would have been some nice serendipity
at the shelter if that's the case.
When we left the club, it had already snowed a couple of
inches. It was rather lovely, but I can already tell I'll
be sick of snow by next week. Bring on the heat waves of August!
I know, I know, I'll regret that next summer. For some reason
there was a piano lying on the street on its side. It seemed
like such a shame, since it appeared to be in working condition
and in tune. Meanwhile, Buzz slaves away in the living room,
tempering the piano he picked up a few months ago, slowly
getting back in tune. The upside is, when he hits the same
note over and over for like an hour, it sounds a little like
the creepy song from Eyes Wide Shut. Hey at least
that song was good.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Friday, December
02, 2005 at 13:07:28 (EST) |
|
The feudin' might be over but the
fussin' ain't
When the MTA decided to offer its
little holiday
discount thing, it seemed like a nice gesture considering
they have millions of dollars to burn up due to their brilliant
accounting practices. I like to think some MTA exec was embezzling
funds but got cold feet at the last minute and dropped a sack
of money in the petty cashbox at the office. But however altruistic
their little half-fare offer is, it doesn't really comfort
me when I'm standing on a subway platform at 3 in the morning
for a half-hour before somebody gets on the PA and through
the static and distortion I can barely make out the phrase
"Shuttle buses replace the A train from Jay Street to
Utica Ave." Oh really? Thanks for letting us know after
we've been standing there like idiots, staring down a cold,
dark tunnel, looking for headlights that will never arrive.
 Here's
my idea of what the MTA should have done with all that money
they 'found': instead of doing this lame discount fare thing
(only on weekends and then every day right around Christmas,
so it A) encourages people to come into the city and spend
their own money and B) doesn't do shit for workaday folks
who don't feel like dealing with the throngs of tourists and
insane Century 21 holiday shoppers), I would have liked it
better if the MTA had taken that money and done something
more practical with it. Of course, it would be nice if they
could somehow use the money to more rapidly repair/upgrade
all the train lines that seem in a permanent state of disruption.
But I have since given up hope that any of the train lines
I use most frequently will ever function in the manner to
which they were conceived. So barring that, here's
my concept: how about printing up a few more signs alerting
riders to the many surprising reroutings and, I dunno, put
them down on the platforms where somebody might actually see
them? There was not one sign at the Jay Street station
platform, but as we exited the station to board a luxury shuttle
bus in the freezing cold I saw ONE sign, posted on a pole
OUTSIDE of the turnstile. So people entering the Jay Street
station might see this, but anybody who was just using the
station as a transfer point could not possibly see it.
I don't know the stats, but I'm willing to bet there's a
helluva lot more people who just transfer through this station
as opposed to people who actually enter and exit from this
particular hub. And if this is happening at this station,
it's most likely happening at most other stations. The MTA
has 50 million dollars to blow through; how many signs is
that? How much would they have to shell out to hire extra
help to tape these signs to a few poles on the platforms?
Maybe I'm way off here, but it seems like using the money
to help people get where they're going more efficiently should
be the MTA's governing principle, not coming up with some
half-assed short- term
'bonus' whose not-so-subtle agenda to increase commerce in
the city.
If nothing else, I think that the heads of the MTA, as a
requirement of the position, should be obligated to use only
public transportation to get around. It sure would make me
feel better to see Peter Kalikow at 3 in the morning, leaning
drunkenly on the subway platform, looking around for some
clue as to why his train isn't showing up.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
