Improvisations on Reality

Had he survived, he would’ve been 53 today.

He was a trailblazer for music as we know it; the undisputed King of Pop. Gone too soon, far too soon, amid a media hubbub that had surrounded him for most of his life.

I’m tempted to write, “Had things been different…” But that’s too easy. It’s very easy to say, “Had things been different.” He had his ghosts, and in the end, the ghosts had him. He sought to change the world, and he did: his musical influence will continue to echo for years to come. Could it have been different? Possibly. I can only hope that he has peace now.

In Memoriam: Michael Joseph Jackson.

And to this particular show, I issue two simple words:

ABOUT TIME!

I’m sure that pretty much every New Yorker who was at that show would agree with me on this one. There are a lot of great artists that come to stage at BB King’s, and there has been plenty of demand for Boney James to be one of those people. And for five years – which, frankly, is outrageous, considering this turnout – it hadn’t happened. To FINALLY see it happen – those two words are about all I can think of. Boney James packing a club or a theater and having everyone up and dancing isn’t even a question. The only disappointment was…it was not happening.

Until last week.

No one counted on Irene, though, but hurricane or no hurricane, BB King’s was sold out. Packed to the gills, with more people coming in.

It also goes without saying that Boney James gives a new meaning to the word ham. I’m honestly not sure what was more fun: the band jamming, Omari Williams damn near attacking the drum kit, or James dancing right along with the music while he wasn’t playing. He was having an absolute ball out on the stage, and it was infectious. My friend Linda, who is a rock fan primarily, was getting into it as well, and if the people weren’t dancing in their chairs, they were dancing in the aisles, and even the BB King’s staff had a little spring in their step as they were going about their jobs.

On this show, he featured select tracks from Contact, his latest CD. In part directed by the aftermath of his accident, it’s an album that echoes heavily on the concept of missed connections, and James showcased the title track from the  CD, as well as the much more mellifluous (and some would say typical Boney James) Deep Time. Both of those tracks have gone over well just as well as the staples of the shows, All Night Long and, a personal favorite of mine, Let It Go.

The only bone that I have to pick about this show is one particular song from Contact, and I refer to When I Had the Chance. Before, it was sung in live show by James’s guest guitarist, Angie Swan, and on the record, LeToya Luckett of the original Destiny’s Child lent her voice to it, which colors the album with rather enjoyable R&B shades. However, the guest vocalist that James brought up at BB King’s was honestly not doing anything for me. Angie Swan has a strong, expressive voice, and she still lets the sax do the talking. LeToya feels what she sings, and even in recorded form, it was noticeable. The guest vocalist at BB King’s sang – but that was it. She sang. She was on key, she was on point, but I honestly did not get the impression that she was as into the music as either LeToya or Angie when they sang it.

James more than made up for it with the perennial crowd favorite, Ain’t No Sunshine. As per usual, he had the audience set the beat with finger snaps. “And you gotta make that face!” he advised. Then he picked up the straight soprano sax, and delivered a dose of what I can only call musical magic, served straight up. The final track on the Seduction album, it is a perfect example of when a saxophone sings, rather than plays. James’s soprano taps into every emotion behind the song and brings it to the forefront, with subtle crescendos and the unique something else that always feels like it tells a story. And I will be honest: I’ve yet to hear a better cover of that song on sax. There have been close seconds, but there is no one that had topped that singular je ne sais quoi that James recorded and brings to the stage show after show.

And, need I even say it? Sold out show. I knew it, and to whoever the promoter is who had finally booked him for this show, and to James’s new management – thank you, on the account that this was wanted by a great many people. Believe you me, this was proof positive that not only is jazz very well in-demand for New York City, but that the people who love the genre will always, always come out for it.

Also, please join me in wishing Boney James, born James Oppenheim, a happy birthday this coming September 1st!!! He is hitting the big five-oh. No, I can’t believe it either, he’s way too cheeky. :) Kidding. Happy birthday, James, and do come back to NYC soon!

K.G.

Edited to amend title, tags, and most crucially, to give credit where it was due. 

New York got away fairly lightly. Downed trees, flooded subway tunnels and stations, and a wreck of a house out in Broad Channel…yow. I feel bad for the homeowner out on Broad Channel…

The drawback is that tomorrow, I gotta head into work. I have absolutely no idea how I’ll be making it in, considering that the subways hadn’t been re-launched yet, nor do I have any idea when they will re-launch.

This is going to be fun…by which I mean a headache.

All aside, I’m safe, the house is safe, nothing ruined… And this means I can write up the Boney James concert!

Until next time,

K.G.

Okay. Figured I’d let you know what’s going on.

The fact that I’m putting up this post tells you that 1. the power is still on and 2. it’s not that bad as of yet. As it were, I’m over at my friend’s place, and I’m going to stay here for a bit. My friend and I will maintain the apartment, cook, clean, whatever it needs to. We have a full stock of groceries, bottled water – the works.

We also have a weather clock, and the barometric pressure is steadily going down. 29.82 and dropping still. The air is heavy; for all it feels like, it’s Florida. It’s humid as all get-out, and the rain is only adding to the humidity. Wind? What wind? None just yet.

It’s also a little eerie. My friend lives close to the subway overpass, and it’s not uncommon for us to hear rattling. There is none, and hadn’t been any for hours. The roads are closing, and there is almost no traffic to be seen anywhere. For once, the city that never sleeps is at least pausing, and I find it weird.

My friend knows the weather patterns; he has been taking flight lessons and had studied weather. Those same conditions showed before the snowstorm earlier this year.

Brace yourselves, my fellow East Coasters, it’s going to get nasty…

K.G.

Far as I can tell you guys, Hurricane Irene is headed right for me, and since it’s now going over land, it is going to lose power. It’s still expected to be ugly for a good bit while it passes.

If you’re on the East Coast and are either in its path or have had her pass through already, I’m crossing my fingers for you.

I think I’ll be OK. I’ve got food, Mom and I always have water by the jugful, so we’re good with that. We have one big flashlight and one little one, but I’ll nip by the first 24-hr Duane Reade I see to get a couple more. Chargeables will all be charged up by midday tomorrow. We’re off the ground.

But, while it’s still calm before the storm, I’ll go and see the one, the only Boney James at BB King’s!!!

:)

K.G.

In the news: student loan debt has grown by 511%.

No, that’s not an exaggeration.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when education is treated as a business, with the profits geared towards the colleges and the lenders.

Let’s face it: college education is not worth anywhere near as much as what it used to be, and a Bachelor’s is the new high school diploma. All that a Bachelor’s degree does nowadays is work as a demarcation of the poverty line: if you have a college degree, you can make the minimum to pay the minimum payments on your bills. It doesn’t give you the respect that it used to, and most of the time, the highest-paying jobs require a minimum of a Master’s. And, also let’s face it, people with any sort of a college degree right now are lucky to find a job.

This isn’t a lack of education, it’s a lack of employment opportunity. There is absolutely no guarantee that a degree will be the automatic pass to get a job. Most of the time, even an entry-level administrative/secretarial position requires a degree, and it is only a marker that the job is obligated to pay you a certain wage, which, frankly, is still somewhere around the “barely enough to pay my bills” level. And also, most of the college grads are that much more likely to take a job outside their field of study. They really have no choice, because someone’s gotta pay those bills.

That’s just the pickle: the price of a degree has been steadily rising, and so far I have yet to see proof that said degree matters when it comes to the real world. The US school system isn’t based on creativity and independent thought; it’s based on regurgitation. Study, study, study to pass the test, and what stays in your head after the test? Little. All that high school focuses on is “Get into college!” Colleges allow for a good bit more of brain-flexing, but the deep drawback to them is that the post-college focus is summed up best as, “Get a good job to pay it all off later.” I see career services offered by every school under the sun; classes and workshops on interviews and resumes, job placement services – but how many of those workshops ever mention that the salary that a student or a fresh graduate will receive is completely out of touch with cost of living and student loan payments?

My school boasts an excellent career services program, and I’ve been in multiple workshops while there. Nowhere was it ever mentioned that the pay rate of the jobs for entry-level would be completely disproportionate to even the most meager NY living. And I was completely out of luck: I didn’t have a perfect GPA, and I was a crim-J major in a primarily business-geared university. Everyone was getting these great jobs and internships, but me? Nada. Why? The career department at my school did not have anything to offer to someone in Crim-J, but everything to everyone in business and accounting.

And know what, I don’t think anyone mentions that. Nope, it’s all about getting people into college, no matter what the cost entails.

I had once written on this blog about schools falsifying FAFSA information in order for the student to receive bigger loans. This goes hand in hand with the topic right now, and I’ll point out the glaringly obvious: everyone benefits but the student/grad. The college gets the money, and how they use it is not regulated. In fact, colleges have been hiring more TAs so that they wouldn’t have to hire more adjuncts, and TAs are grossly underpaid as they continue their own higher-ed studies; TAs are often graduate and Ph.D. students themselves. Federal funding has been cut back as part of the new “budget”, and same goes to the state, so the colleges resort to getting revenue elsewhere…for instance, from loans.

And that’s where the trouble begins.

So, readers, here’s a question for you: does this or does this not remind you of the mortgage bubble?

Come on: the similarities are there. Out-of-control lending, no thought whatsoever as to repayment, no thought whatsoever as to where the repayment is coming from… And the result is, frankly put, that the majority of a generation is either broke, or fast approaching it. For someone with a $25K/year starter job, to pay out $100K in student loans is just plain not feasible. What happens? They stop paying. And cue a cascade of consequences: jacked-up interest rates on everything else, cue a credit score being shot to hell and back, and a much worse time getting that holy-grail “better job”, because more and more employers check credit ratings. Banks foreclose on a defaulted mortgage, so what happens when a student loan is defaulted on?

Ramen noodles and Spam are not supposed to be daily staples so the bills can get paid. But that’s where so, so many people are finding themselves. Why? Because they got a degree.

The bubble is inflating as more and more colleges are jacking up tuition costs and everything is putting forward that a college degree is the be-all and end-all of success.

What will happen when it pops? Frankly, not to be a Charlie Downer, but I would be very surprised indeed if the college grads will receive some sort of a bailout. Very surprised indeed. Because we have already seen what happens when one bubble popped. Example goes a long way.

Also? I’ll give another elephant in the room a spotlight. There are no jobs right now for people. You can only be an admin/secretary for so long, and even then, admin departments in companies are usually first to get cut. There are no manufacturing jobs, because they’re outsourced, and what little left is being cut left and right. There are no tech jobs because they got outsourced years ago. There are no trade jobs because trade schools are very! few in number and no one ever thinks about earning a living by manual labor.  There are multiple graduates with great degrees in finance, accounting, business administration, and there’s so many of them that there are not enough jobs to go around. Healthcare salaries have been plummeting, and the student loan ratio there is legendary, but that’s also where so many people have headed, so that market’s about to be flooded too. There is no work. There is very little to look forward to after college except for paying back ginormous student loans.

And it goes without saying: I would love to not have student loans, but I didn’t hit the lotto. Them’s the breaks. Sucks, but them’s the breaks.

K.G.

Yes, it was an earthquake, it started in DC and was felt as high up as Vermont.

The plants in my office did a little dance, but I’m OK. My heart rate, however, is somewhere between “marathon” and “cyclist”, and needs to slow the hell down.

K.G.

Ever heard the saying, “Just when you think you have it made, take one step forward”?

Yeah. Fun stuff.

So the big bookcase is no more. After close to 12 years of being laden with 100lbs+ worth of books, I’ve removed the books, sorted them into the Keep Pile (which is now in the smaller shelf) and the Donate Pile (which will find new homes), and dismantled the ‘case. I was shocked to see the shelves have been literally sagging under the weight of the books on them, and apparently, it has been looking to kick the bucket for years.

What I didn’t know was that the floor underneath it had very much the same idea.

Remember what I said before: painted wood flooring. Apparently, it wasn’t even painted underneath the bookcase; it was never moved from its spot during the original renovation (a no-no). And as I saw from the quality (or lack thereof) of the wood that was exposed, it wasn’t even treated underneath the bookshelf, never mind the lack of a paint job. Combined with the 100+ pounds of book and bookcase weight, it started to sag a little.

Well, more than a little. There’s a one-inch gap between the baseboard and the floor.

And also because it wasn’t treated, that corner of untreated wood started to splinter a little bit.

Now, there’s two solutions:

1. Rip up the flooring altogether and lay down actual parquet floors. Not happening, I can’t afford that, and even if the landlord OK’s it, I can expect the next lease to be noticeably higher in rent.

2. Put up a new baseboard and make sure that whatever goes into that corner of the room is not particularly weight-bearing. This can be done in pretty much any incarnation of furniture arranging. The wardrobe will be about the same weight as the (unloaded) bookshelf, or I can slide the comp desk over there. Even flush against the wall, it will be a nonissue weight-wise.

Just…egad. NOT what I wanted to discover mid-revamp.

K.G.

I think that this may at least help understand the flooring-related Facebook posts lately.

For the record: I do not earn much at Day Job. I live with my mother, which enables me to support myself completely in every way but rent, and lets me stay current with my student loan payments. Our apartment is in one of the few, few, few parts of NY where it’s possible to have a 1-BR under four figures for rent cost, and we lived in that building for about 17 years now. Needless to say, it’s Our Place, and will stay that way for a long while. Also, it’s old, and it needs some sprucing up. We do the sprucing, and the rent stays low. Trust me: this is an awesome tradeoff.

Also bear in mind this: it’s a 400-square foot place. My room is exactly 1/4 of that, if even that much. It is SMALL.

About 5-6 years ago, when Mom and I both found out (the hard way) we’re allergic to carpet, we had the carpeting torn up from the small room and the big room. The apartment was repainted and, in the majority of the rooms, the floor was covered by vinyl tiles. Think linoleum, just the peel-and-stick sort. Looks great, easy-as-pie to clean, easy to maintain. And if it scuffs or get damaged, you can pull back the tile and replace it. When I say majority of the rooms, I am excluding the small room, which is technically mine. Floors there were simply painted, seeing as they were wood, and it was easier to paint and leave it be.

Except there’s one catch: those floors are next to impossible to clean. Sweeping doesn’t work, because I don’t have that much in the way of floor space if you consider furniture, and dust gets caught between the planks of wood. Most cleaning solvents dissolve the paint , so I can’t Swiffer either.

My idea was pretty simple: the same vinyl floor tiles, in my room.

Problem: I’m going at this project fully solo. Reason is pretty simple: I’m very handy with all sorts of home repairs, and Mom can’t lift. Also helps that I’ve been taking apart furniture and putting it back together since I was a kid. Grandpa taught me how to wield a hammer and a screwdriver, and trust me, people, I’m grateful for that skill set every day of my life.

Problem #2: …my back. For those who don’t know, I had a slipped lumbar disc since I was 22 and see the ye olde chiropractor regularly. Otherwise, plain and simply, I cannot bloody walk.

Nonetheless, I’m nothing if not ambitious, and over the course of the past week, I’ve unloaded the furniture, taken it apart, hauled it out, put down the new flooring, and hauled it back in and put it back together. To say that it’s a good workout is an understatement, I think I rediscovered my shoulder muscle.

I also discovered that the build of the apartment was shoddy, and the floors in my room are very uneven. Some planks are higher, some are lower, and I’m kinda worried on the account that the floor is…for the lack of better words…sagging in some places. Still, I see the difference already: where I laid down the new floors I can already sweep/Swiffer them, and I’m definitely breathing much clearer, since I eliminated a lot of surfaces where dust can collect. I’ve also set aside a good bunch of stuff to donate: books, clothing, shoes, etc. I still have the big bookcase (which I plan to toss) to move and the bed. This I’m putting off, and let me explain why.

The plan is also to get a wardrobe and a new bedframe, on the account that…well, having been taken apart and put back together much more than once, the frame is not  stable. Not stable at all. I really do not want to disassemble and reassemble it again, mostly because I know very well that this time, the frame won’t hold up. I am not thrilled at the idea of my bed collapsing under me because of hardware instability, not one whit. The wardrobe will store every bit as much as the big dresser that I have, and the dresser will pass to Mom – it’s in excellent condition, and she needs the storage. But best of all: with a little bit of space rearrangement, this can very well end up increasing the floor space and generally improving things for myself and Mom.

For now, though, I’ll nip at the fried wontons Mom and I ordered, and relax my back a bit. Tomorrow: the hunt for a shelf expansion (to the small bookcase…if I can find the expansion, I am one happy camper, because it seems to be out of production…and anywhere that I can get a bedframe with drawers on the cheap. The ‘net has some awesome links, but we’ll see…

K.G.

The copy of Book 3 of The Index Series goes to…

…Bob Baldwin, who entered the mix with a collection of what I can only call “A Musician’s Series of Unfortunate Events” over dinner. I laughed, but mostly cringed, and asked “WTF?!!!”

Next contest, with a new “to do” will be announced in September!

K.G.