Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Fireside Chat @11:00 pm
My Apartment/Chelsea
As I wrote on Monday, one of the pleasures of doing this blog is I can do whatever I feel like doing, as long as it’s after dark. So I can go wherever I want and do the night’s post and then put it up the next day. And that includes my apartment, which will be nice for night’s like tonight. As I wrote yesterday, I had to go to work early today and this process is going to happen all week. Anyway, I’m really beat tonight and thought I’d just go home and make a fire and have a few beers and so that’s tonight’s destination and after hours journey. I’ll take some photos on my walk home and think about something to write about on my laptop while sitting in front of my fireplace.
And here we go. It's straight up 6th Avenue and then we're home.
Sandwiches, bagels and coffee, the holy trinity of delis.
Same caption as the last, just replace sandwiches and coffee for paninis and wraps.
In case you're wondering if this store is closing...
Just check out their other windows. Gee, this is just a guess, but maybe you mismanaged yourself. You know, like maybe just puttting up one big sign saying you're closing as opposed to a thousand hand written ones all over your four windows.
Oh no, another one of these, let's just get home, I think the dollar pizza joints have officially outnumbered bedbugs at this point!
Ah, the log is in the fireplace and all is well. Let's fire it up.
There we go, now we're talking. Well, not yet, let me think of something to write about.
Tonight I thought I’d write about the very thing you’re on if you’re reading this: The internet. I have a love/hate relationship with the internet. What I love about it is the wealth of information that’s available to you at the tip of your fingers. Google didn’t even start up until 1998 and now I probably go there at least a dozen times a day. In fact I had to Google the word “Google” to see when it started. I was half afraid I’d turn to dust while doing that, but I survived.
For all the good the internet has done for the world, it’s also fucked a lot of shit up. Record stores are becoming a dying thing now because everyone downloads music on the internet, no one buys albums or CD’s anymore and it’s killing the thing that we knew as the record store. Going to the record store was a social thing. Even if you went alone, maybe you’d strike up a conversation with someone looking at the same record as you were, or you’d talk to the person behind the counter about the music they were playing in the store that you had never heard of. I had a conversation with two kids in a bar last year (where else) and they tried to tell me that going to the Apples iTunes store was the same thing as going to a record store. I told them it wasn’t a social thing to go to the iTunes store and they argued that it was, because you can leave comments and communicate that way. I gave up and went back to my beer.
And speaking of comments, that’s another thing that bugs me about the internet. It used to be if you wanted to sound off on something that was in the paper, you had to sit down and compose a letter to the editor of that paper. And then the editors of that paper would decide if they would run it or not. Doesn’t sound democratic? Well, that’s because newspaper editors are smarter than most of the people writing in to them. Most people read their news online now and almost every paper online has a comments button after every story. And you don’t have to leave your real name. This has turned every half-brained, drooling idiot out there into an instant critic and pundit and they now can have their inane and imbecilic thoughts plastered out there for millions of people to read. The only problem is a good portion of these nitwits don’t know how to spell. The New York Post’s gossip column ran an item today on Rosie O’Donnell breaking up wth her girlfriend. Someone who’s handle is “a2z” left this comment: “I lost 25 lbs All you need to do is think of being stuck that discusting beast. YOU EAT ALL YOU WANT THEN THROW THE FUC UP” I swear to God I didn’t alter that comment one bit. I was written up on somebody’s blog for my 365 bars blog last year and I was called an “alkaholic looser” in someone’s comment. Skary...I mean scary stuff!
Another thing that the internet is affecting is porn. I’m not saying it’s ruining porn, it’s hard (no pun intended, okay pun intended somewhat) to ruin such a time-treasured part of our society, but I think there’s so much of it readily available in the privacy of your home or apartment that it’s making people numb to it. I was on a porn site a couple months ago...doing research of course, thanks for that excuse, Pete Townshend!, and you could click a button and see what the most watched video of that day was. Know what it was? Two obese women shitting into their hands and spreading it on each other. It was discusting...I mean disgusting. When that’s the most popular video of the day, I think we’ve all seen a little too much porn.
The internet also takes a lot of the excitement out of porn. I think we’ve all had that moment in the past when you’re renting, “Titty Titty Gang Bang” at the video store and your next door neighbor comes up to say hello. Awkward! But it led to the excitement of getting the tape. Now all you have to do is type in the word “porn” on Google and a whole universe of porn awaits you. The only trouble is, a lot of people these days don’t know how to spell porn.
Okay, I have to run. I haven’t checked my email in ten minutes. I’m way overdue.
Further reading: The Telegraph, NY Times and Hub Pages.
28 Comments
Reader Comments (28)
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/debacle_on_th_st_Hvdbi0H8UlIWOnqCfbM7BI
I never thought I'd live to see the day that record stores no longer existed. Like you, I have a love/hate affair with the internet. Nice observations!
i like internet porn.
the fireplace reminded me of the old Chris Walken "Continental" thing on SNL.
I like knowing you were cozy at home and safe.
less worrying about you in such a big scary city...
Wow,,,ok, first thing, the "Store Closing" signs, how funny is that. It instantly reminded me of an electronics store next to the Empire State Bldg,,,"going out of business sale" and everything must be sold down to the "bare walls". Tourists falling for that scam left and right,,,years later they are still there, going out of business. The fireplace lit up like that reminded me of the Decade album and Neil Young, a picture of him stoking the fire, cool shot. The porn is incredibly available to the masses and anyone with a computer can get access so that's not such a good thing, lots of freaks and pedophiles, and youngsters that are not being watched by parents. Two women rubbing crap on each other is so damn disgusting, you wonder how someone could watch that.
@GENE: Thanks for the link!
@Barfly: I know, sad that they're disappearing.
@Gidget: It's not that scary here!
@Al: Glad you liked the fireplace shot, one of the only good things about February is my fireplace!
Record stores are dying out - if they can't adapt. Here in Montreal we have seen some change their focus to stay viable. First, fix up your web site for mail order and keep it current. Once it is set up, it only takes minutes a day to add and delete. One guy here closed down and relocated to a laundromat. Kept three sets of machines, sold the rest to make room for the records and CDs in the front. Come in and browse while you get rid of your skid marks. Another place removed half of his bins (to wall shelves like you would have at home) and lengthened his counter out to accommodate six stools and bought an espresso machine and sandwich fridge. Another one has Saturday flea markets where he rents out halves of four tables to people looking to sell and cuts out sitting on second hand stock while earning on the tables and bringing people in to the store.
The most important thing is staff. If your staff doesn't want to have time to talk to people, you have failed, work the counter yourself. If your staff doesn't respect the music genres you are selling, work the counter yourself. Fifteen years back I went into a record store I didn't frequent with a paycheck burning a hole in my wallet. After twenty minutes I had found two used LPs and was at the cash when I saw a Guided By Voices Box set of the first 5 albums on the wall behind the cash. I stepped up and said "I'll take these and the GBV box set up there". The two middle aged Blues guys started laughing at me. In front of other customers. They lost $90 in sales and I never returned any of their three locations.
The customer doesn't always have to be right, but would it hurt to make him feel cool for two minutes
@marty In Montreal
I want a record store in a laundromat!
yeah i am a big supporter in stores with real customer service!
even when broke i support the family mom and pop...
store closing signs are a sign of the times though. but i bet that asshole had spent more time on his million signs then in his own store.
For what the guy spent on making copies of the "Store Closing" sign,
he kept Kinko's in business instead of his own.
I enjoy the daily changes of the nightly misadventures.
The "Fireside Chat" was a nice touch.
(and the term was coined years before Chat Rooms)
Good conversation we had about Record Stores
and "The Way Things Used To Was" yesterday.
"You can have my Vinyl when you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers."
@Marty in Montreal: "Come in and browse while you get rid of your skid marks." Ha ha ha! Sales catchphrase of the year!
@"Boris:" I hear you brother!
In case you were wondering, my porn name is Pepper Berend.
@Biff: Nice! According to this thing: http://gangstaname.com/names/porn My porn name is Uncle Peachybutt. I don't think I'm happy about that.
"Uncle Peachybutt. I don't think I'm happy about that." LOL! I quite like Uncle Peachybutt.
You make some excellent points about the internet Marty and I agree wholeheartedly about the comments that people leave in online newspaper postings. Jealousy and ignorance (not to mention illiteracy) rears its ugly head in those mean-spirited comments.
I also used to enjoy going to record stores, iTunes is definitely not the same thing. Besides it is more difficult to discover new artists on iTunes.
Speaking of tunes, I changed the lyrics to a Doors song (Whiskey Bar) for you. I am ready for spring, summer and TIKI Bars.
Please enjoy!
------------------------
Well, show me the way
To the next TIKI bar
Oh, don't ask why
Oh, don't ask why
Show me the way
To the next TIKI bar
Oh, don't ask why
Oh, don't ask why
For if we don't find
The next TIKI bar
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you, I tell you
I tell you we must die
Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must HAVE TIKI DRINKS, oh, you know why
Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have TIKI DRINKS, oh, you know why
-------------------
Surfs up!
Wadda yu mean...us communtaters are retardit und cunt spel two god!?! Dat mak mee fel reel madd Marde!! A-huck...a-hyuck!
Oh, by the way, Facebook sent me a virus last week that finally pushed my ailing computer past the point of no return, so now I have a new second hand computer and for some reason, my spell check has been disabled. Get ready for some truly spectacular spelling errors from yours truly!
@Tiki Bar Susie: That's a great Doors song and I like the altered lyrics! Thanks!
@Jaws: This is one of the few places I actually like the comments and of course the commenters! Sorry to hear about your computer, you should sue Mark Zuckerburg! (I think that's his name.)
You are so very welcome Marty!
I have been catching up on all that I missed while I was away and I must say that I LOVE this new blog.
MARTY AFTER DARK rocks!
@Tiki Bar Susie: Thanks! It's nice to see you back and commenting!
The computer guy at the second hand computer store smiled sadly at me and shook his head and said; conducting your daily intercourse on Face book (in terms of computer virus safety) is like having unprotected sex with every thing that moves, including household pets and barnyard animals. I think he's right...fucking crackbook.
Why is it as soon as I read a news article, I can't stop reading the drivel on the comments pages!? I hate bad grammar! AHHHHH!!!!!
That fire place isn't looking too black and white, Marty. Sepia tone?
@Clacky of Bunt's Downunder: The bad grammar and misspelling really get to me when it's someone who's a real know-it-all and really knows nothing. Go read some of the comments at the NY Post and you'll see some real winners. I used a special Photoshop filter on the fire to make it that color. I just realized something, I need to link it to the Arthur Browne song! I'll do it when I get home.
That's really fucking weird, I was just watching that the other day.
from before I was born:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOErZuzZpS8
what first piqued my interest from before I could legally drink:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1U0qvtQnE8
Oh, tres important:
Félicitations pour se marier Jason, vous fées français grandes.
And Jason, I saw the Prodigy in a small club upstate with Ritchie Hawtin and Moby. in 1992
If anyone checked out the Prodigy link, those 2 guys shown throughout the video (once in a while they show a third guy behind keyboards who wrote all their songs) had the best job in the world. At live performances, they had to take obscene amounts of ecstasy and dance around like retards till they got tired and then stared at lasers all night.
Blagh, gonna watch me some pron.
@cp: I'll check out the links when I get home, enjoy the pron!
I was having lunch with some co-workers today and one of them mentioned that he loved when they visited NY how you could get this awesome pizza for only a buck. I wanted to laugh, but didn't.
How awesome is it that you have a fireplace in your apt?! I want a fireplace.
I have to avoid reading the comments online for our paper. It makes me want to hurt people. And I'm a pacifist.
@kari: I love sitting in front of the fire. I wish there was a way for newspapers to make people put their names in the comments section and a lot of them would go away. That's funny about your co-worker!
Uncle Peachybutt! HA HA HA! And, hey, I forgot to say: FIRE!
@Biff: Fuck! I forgot to put the link in there. Oh well, I'll do it tonight. Glad you liked the porn name!
My porn name is Missy Spankalicious. Not sure how I feel about that. I wish there was some online porn for Pepper Berend and Uncle Peachybutt ;)