August 24, 2011

I had to go into work early today at 10 AM and now it’s over twelve hours later and I just got home from a horrible, stress-filled day/night at work. Usually tonight’s swizzle stick night, but I’m fucking beat so I just came home. I’m too burned out to even write a short story so I looked around my apartment for something to write about and saw the books I bought from St. Mark’s Bookshop last night and a light bulb went off over my head. Then the acid flashback went away and I had an idea. I’ll type a random paragraph from each book under a photo of the book and that’ll be tonight’s entry. I may do this every once in a while with some other books in my apartment, so here goes, what I’ve decided to call: "MAD Looks At Books!”

Just Kids by Patti Smith
The Chelsea was like a doll’s house in the Twilight Zone with a hundred rooms, each a small universe. I wandered the halls seeking its spirits, dead or alive. My adventures were mildly mischievous, tapping open a door slightly ajar and getting a glimpse of Virgil Thomson’s grand piano, or loitering before the nameplate of Arthur C. Clarke, hoping he might suddenly emerge. Occasionally I would bump into Gerr Schilff, the German scholar, armed with volumes on Picasso, or Viva in Eau Sauvage. Everyone had something to offer and nobody appeared to have much money. Even the successful seemed to have just enough to live like extravagant bums.

Public Illumination Magazine—Staff: Miss Davenport, Mr. Cologne
Singer-actress Cher was admitted to St. Monica’s Hospital in Los Angeles on Tuesday, complaining of flu-like symptom's and fatigue. On Thursday the hospital’s chief of pulmonary research, Dr. Paul Belsen, announced the the entertainer had been diagnosed with mononucleosis.

I Slept With Joey Ramone by Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil
The crowd gave it a minute, which was about one whole song. They thought there was a technical problem or something. But when the Ramones began their second song, and it was justl like the first one, the kids in the audience realized that was indeed the show—and then they turned. The look on their faces is a priceless memory for me today, but that night it was pretty scary. Damn, it was only some guys playing music, but the crowd acted like they were stoning a bunch of murderous child molesters.

Lucha Libre
Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling—Photographs by Lourdes Grobet
The public still remembered when the Mexican wrestler shouted to her rival, who laid flat on the mat: “Get up you miserable piece of imported trash!” Never before had a Mexican female wrestler snagged the world crown and few expected Molina to change that. Expectations were high that Willimas would triumph.

100 Whores by Mykola Dementiuk
When you went out with a whore you never knew what you were going to get—a fucking, a blow-job, or just a stinking hand-job. I’d even gone out with a few whores who just lay there while I felt them up. Maybe it was my nature that they read right off the bat, knowing I was just a plain old wuss and they could get away with anything.

The end. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

Further reading: NY Times, Village Voice, goodreads.com and 100 Whores.

You Might Also Like: Dr. Pepper, Dr. Strangelove and Dr. Acula.

Five Random Books On One Of My Bookshelves.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High by Cameron Crowe
The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson
The Verdict by Barry Reed
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
The Deer Hunter by E.M. Corder

Time Is Tight

ARCHIVES

(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you!)

----------------------------

Bonus Beer Fridge Photos From Britta!

A while back MAD commenter and blogger, Britta commented about her beer fridge and I was curious about it and she sent me these photos of it. Are you like me and are you thinking the following thoughts right now: Party at Britta's! Oh and it was her birthday a couple days ago, so happy birthday to you, Britta! Thanks for the photos!

August 23, 2011

There was a post yesterday at Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York that quoted Patti Smith’s book, “Just Kids,” concerning the old Allerton Hotel on Houston Street. I’ve been meaning to get that book and it leads into tonight’s Six Pack, which I debuted last Monday. If you missed that post, basically what I’m going to do every Monday is go to six places and get six of the same item and compare or in tonight’s case, I’m going to one place and get six items. And what better place to get six items than St. Mark’s Bookshop, where Jeremiah said the book was available? Not too many, so it’s off to St. Mark’s we go.

Oh, and speaking of Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, don’t forget to vote daily for his blog right here: CBS New York Blog Competition.

Zingo! Here we are at St. Mark's Bookshop.

And there's the book I'm looking for, "Just Kids" by Patti Smith. Let's go in and find it and five other things to buy in here.

There's lots of choices in here, many of them you'll never find on Amazon or in a Barnes and Noble's.

And here's the book I'm looking for. That was easy.

And look at this, I ran into an old friend I haven't seen in years, Patrick. We used to work together all those years ago and he's buying a motorvational book by author David Katz. This book has been known to induce suicide in six out of seven buyers, so I hope Patrick is careful! This is something else unique about local book stores, you won't run into old chums on Amazon. Great to see you again, Patrick and be careful with that book!

Okay, I need five more items for my six pack tonight, let's go look for them.

These two are tempting, but I'm going to keep shopping.

This looks cool, Public Illumination Magazine. Looks like purchase number two of the six pack for tonight.

Let's check out this table of books...

"I Slept With Joey Ramone" by Mickey Leigh! I met Mickey last year on my bar crawl and he was a great guy. I've been meaning to get this and it's on sale, so I'll add this to the six pack.

"Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling!" I gotta get this.

And here's the other book I came in here in search of, "100 Whores" by Mykola "Mick" Dementiuk. He's a New York writer and I'm anxious to read the tales in this tome.

And the last purchase is going to be a postcard. Want me to mail it to you? If you're the first one who asks me to in the comments section, it's yours.

And Benjamin rings up this week's six pack. He told me the store is suffering in these bad economic times, so if you live in New York, stop by and buy a book or two and if you don't buy one online, the website is right below. Fuck Amazon and keep this place in business!

Oh and here's the postcard. The end. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

St. Mark's Bookshop
31 Third Avenue (Between 8th and 9th St.)
212-260-7853

Further reading: EV Grieve, New York Magazine, Racked and Village Voice.

You Might Also Like: Fuzzy Navel, Fuzzy Wuzzy and Fuzzy Duffel Bag (truthfully, is this you, csp?)

Four Other Saints
Susan Saint James
St. Stephen
The Saint of Fort Washington
The Saint

I'll be your whatever you want,
The bong in this reggae song.

ARCHIVES

(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you!)

-----------------------------
Bonus Book Link By Ilisha Helfman!

Speaking of books, check out my friend Ilisha Helfman's book which is an introduction into Jazzknitting. Even if you're not into knitting, you should take a look at it, it's beautifully designed and has some great tales in it. You can read all about it here: Jazzknitting.

-------------------------

Bonus Earthquake Art From Jaws!

Jaws sent in this timely illustration. Thanks Jaws!