Mickey Z.: Cool Observer: Comments on Rolling Sevens

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Rolling Sevens

Posted by Mickey Z on 09/18 at 06:48 AM

Awesome post topic...I think it is going to get a little crazy here today. Morning Mickey and all.

I’ll have to work on this for a whole and be back later…

Good luck fighting off all of those girls, Mickey.

Posted by James Michael from We're fed well, we're in the tropics, not Guantana on 09/18 at 08:47 AM

YO ADRIAN!

Posted by James Michael from We're fed well, we're in the tropics, not Guantana on 09/18 at 08:48 AM

my on from got cut off:

We’re fed well, we’re in the tropics, not Guantanamo but PR

Posted by James Michael from Not the 51st state on 09/18 at 08:50 AM

7 things that scare me:

1. Puerto Rican malls (make that malls, period)
2. Large crowds of shopping maniacs
3. Politicians
4. Working for large corporations (which I no longer do)
5. Jail (which I no longer do)
6. Alcohol (which I no longer do)
7. Drugs (which I no longer do)

7 things I like the most:

1. Manena (my wife)
2. My niece and nephew
3. Food
4. This comments section
5. Writing
6. Reading
7. Music

7 random facts about me:

1. I’ve lived in NYC, Toronto, Singapore, New Milford and Lime Rock CT, NYC again, Boston, San Diego, Brooklyn and San Juan, Puerto Rico!
2. I’ve been married for almost 7 years.
3. I’ve been arrested in three different countries: Singapore, Orlando and Harlem…I know, the last two are cities in US of A, but they are so different they feel like separate countries.
4. I play the guitar
5. I’ve canoed to the James Bay in northern Ontario…three weeks in the wilderness; on lakes and rivers you could actually drink from them.
6. I can dance, especially meringue.
7. I’m 6 feet 5 inches and weigh 225 pounds.

more later, perhaps…

Posted by James Michael from Not the 51st state on 09/18 at 09:47 AM

I’m to crabby to make lists, as a rule, but I do have a crush on Michelle Yeoh.

But wait! Here’s something unique I’ve done: ended chi sao practise with a passionate kiss.

Posted by Harry from on 09/18 at 10:23 AM

Man, I took a pass on the celebrity crushes because the word “celebrity” just makes me think of “hollywood” botox zombies cringing on “Entertainment Tonight” but I must admit that 2 of your choices put the throb in hearthrob.

1. Arundhati Roy (definitely a number 1)
7. Michelle Yeoh (higher than a seven)

Both are Beautiful brainy ass kickers who I would cook a complete and nutritious breakfast for any day!

Posted by Youngfox from Canada on 09/18 at 10:27 AM

JOS: 6-foot-5, 225. I had no idea you were a fullback.

Harry, your crabbiness is part of your abundant charm...but kissing during chi sao? Talk about “sticking hands.”

Youngfox: Yeah, I agree. I’ll probably get accused of objectifying, but a crush is a crush. When I see Arundhati and hear her speak, I swoon...and I’m not ashamed to admit it. As for Michelle Yeoh, there’s a scene in “Crouching Tiger” where she uses Wing Chun techniques so gracefully that I was moved to tears. (I didn’t rank my crushes in any particular order, btw.)

Ah, what can I say? I’m a compulsive listmaker.

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/18 at 10:33 AM

Seven Things that I Like the Most:

1. Secondhand bookshop smell
2. Cats
3. Writing
4. Singing/playing with my band
5. Loafing around a plaza doing either of the two above
6. William Burroughs
7. Swimming

Seven Random Facts about Me:

1. I’m typing this on q French keyboqrd.
2. I write stories and novels longhand then type them out in one go when I’m done tinkering.
3. I can subsist on 2 hours sleep a night.
4. Slept/looked out window all the way through school except art class.
5. I have a 4 octave range which is a crime against nature because of the amount I used to smoke a lot but the fifth is on the way.
6. I don’t go to clubs because I think people go to them just to get their biorhythms hammered into line.
7. Happy belated birthday Joe!

Seven Things I Can’t Do:
1. Not live beside the sea.
2. Keep my mouth foamfree at mention of Thomas Pynchon or Django Reinhardt.
3. Get over the way women are built.
4. Watch teevee.
5. Hold a regular job.
6. Take U2 seriously.
7. Understand how people with perfectly good heartbeats can’t dance.
8. Drive a car.

Seven Things I Can Do:
1. Speak Spanish well (but with police it’s Dumb Foreigner all the way).
2. Bring the funk.
3. Paint.
4. Listen to Frank Black all day.
5. Pass on this joke:

Why do anarchists only drink herbal tea?
Because all proper tea is theft.

6. Sit quietly for a long time
7. Origami.

Posted by Owen from Barcelona on 09/18 at 10:44 AM

Hello, Z’Gang-
(Sounds vaguely French, eh?)
I don’t have much of a list, Mickey Z. I guess I have some blab, however.
I just erased two fairly long tales about my life. But, as time passes, “my” life seems less and less important.
I’m not afraid of dying, though the possibility of becomming a vegetable or of swimming through months of pain and suffering bothers me a lot.
I think the point of life, to a very, very great extent, is to “get over yourself,” as soon as possible. At 55, I’m still trying…
I’m happiest when I can get through a day without having caused anyone any pain or harm. Such days, alas, are so fucking rare.
I love visiting this place, where sincerity and compassion really seem to matter. I’ve very rarely found a group of people who seem so honest and committed to doing good.
I once knew a communist guy named John, in Seattle. He said ( and he meant it ) that, if someone in need found their way to his door, his door was open. Period.
In Mexico City, we’d often stop at cafes which had tables out on the sidewalk. Children would frequently come up and point at the table, as if asking for something. Some awkward exchanges in “spanglish” revealed that they wanted the coffee creamers. When we handed them to the kids, they ripped them open and drank them.
In Mexico City, one evening just before it was fully dark, an old, shoeless woman in a long, tattered dress approached me on the sidewalk. She looked me in the eye and held out her hand. I gave her all the money I had. She smiled a thank you, and I saw my mother’s face shining out at me. I sobbed in the street.
In Mexico City, women with children would lay down in the sidewalk and hold a hand up, and out, in a request for money. Sometimes, she’d have two or three or four tiny kids sleeping on & around her body. Sometimes her hand would remain immobile all day. One morning I put several pesos into such a woman’s hand. A few hours later, three amazing things were observed: Her hand was still up in the air, neither she nor her kids had moved at all, as far as I could tell, and the pesos were still in her hand.
Sometimes, in Mexico City, packs of dogs would follow us about. They were always well behaved, and stayed ten feet or more away. When we stopped, they stopped, sat down, and just stared at us.
In India, in the less affluent neighborhoods, there were usually bodies, covered in fabric of some sort, lying dead along the sides of roads.
In India, at sunset, people would begin to sweep the sidewalks. At first, I thought it was some public works project of some sort. It was not - they were simply preparing their bedrooms, before going to bed.
In India, I saw a toddler-aged boy laying on the sidewalk. An 4 or 5 year old girl was laying with her head on his chest. I believe both were dead.
In India, the beggars often outnumbered the non-beggars.
I traveled very extensively throughout India. Trains and busses traveled through some very inhospitable areas… deserts, rocky & barren plains and plateaus, mountainsides devoid of all trees and brush. In such areas I saw no animals. I saw no structures or vehicles or evidence of human habitation. There were ALWAYS people in these places, however. In India, there were ALWAYS people - everywhere.
There were roaches in India larger than a pack of cigarettes.
In India, entire families would work as rock breakers. They would gradually turn huge piles of big rocks into gravel… I used to stop and give them money and little candies. Somehow, I always - always - felt even worse, afterwards.
In Mexico City, many huge buildings were being built. I saw no pieces of big, earthmoving equipment. Families would live in the holes being dug out as basements / understructures, for the building. During the day, people in the holes would dig, and men, and children would carry the dirt up and out, in packs on their chests and backs. They’d dump it, and return below. I saw the same thing near the Napalese border in India, except the packs hung from their heads - their heads!
Gotta Go. Thanks for the great yesterday, everyone. Thanks for the greeting, today, Owen.
I’m not gonna reread this, so, sorry if there are goofy mistakes ...
Love, joe.

Posted by joe from Oregon on 09/18 at 01:40 PM

Joe, I just read that John Dos Passos-esque pillar of feeling, and I am very moved. When did you say your book was coming out?

Fie on Tennessee and his lavender-scented unmentionables, hiw bergamot-scented pomade, and his violet-scented ankie. You’re the real deal, which I guess makes sense since you saw water being created for the first time. GET BUSY. Write that book, make it fiction or non-fiction or memoir or autobiography or what the French call “un recit” or any other damn thing, but **write** **it** **down** so we can buy it and support your creativity with more than words.

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from State of Awe on 09/18 at 02:39 PM

Hi Everybody....I told Joe the same thing, Mudge.

Posted by rosemarie jackowski from Shocked and Awed on 09/18 at 03:14 PM

Mmmm-kay, the sevens:

Seven Things that Scare Me:
1) Right wingers
2) The prison industry
3) Straight people
4) Closed-mindedness
5) the State of South Carolina >shiver<
6) eating lobster in public
7) self-published novels

Seven Things that I Like the Most:
1) Being queer
2) Being a dad
3) Being a grandfather
4) Having a loving family that I created and even includes some of the genetic family
5) Being in love
6) Someone loving me back
7) Rigatoni with cannellini, sweet sausage, and collard greens in Parmesan veloute

Seven Random Facts about Me:
1) I’ve never one day of my life felt like I “fit in” wherever I was
2) My dogs are named after the Knopfs
3) I wrote five romances in the early 80s
4) I’m a recovering addict
5) I am colon-cancer free since 2001
6) I’m a serious control freak
7) I have no idea who I’ll grow up to be, but I’m sure gonna have fun learning to be him!

Seven Things I plan to do Before I Die:
1) Live as an active and participating citizen in three centuries
2) See the Progressive Movement arise and dominate the moral and ethical ideas of American society
3) Legally marry my lover/boyfriend/partner/whatever other term du jour that isn’t “husband” the tolerant straights decide we should use publicly, and file flurries of paperwork with him promienetly listed as my husband (course, this assumes the laws will change and I will have at that time a willing victim)
4) Visit China
5) Publish a novel I want to read
6) put my grandkids through the college of their choice, or set them up in the living they prefer
7) turn 141

Seven Things I Can Do:
1) Cook
2) Eat
3) Talk
4) Read
5) Write
6) Edit other people’s work to be better
7) Support

Seven Things I Can’t Do:
1) Believe in religion
2) Swim (claustrophobia; panicking in water Not Good!)
3) Dance (arthritis in toes, feet, knees, hip joints)
4) Tolerate rap “music”
5) Trust easily
6) get over the idea that all women are, at heart, like my abusive, emasculating mother
7) say “thank you for my life” often enough to whatever listens

Seven Things I say the Most:
1) What? Stop mumbling!
2) You’re not serious!
3) Pass the____, please
4) Honey, teeth!
5) I’m sorry
6) I know you’re only my adopted [fill in relationship], but…
7) Hello? HELLO? Damn bureaucrat hung up on me!

Seven Celebrity Crushes:
1) Rosemarie Jackowski
2) Sebastian Junger
3) Sander Hicks
4) Michael Zezima
5) Dame Judi Dench
6) Charlie Rose (it’s the accent, I think)
7) the whole band Hobotalk, from Scotland

Seven people who should do this:
Do it HONESTLY? Anyone who sees it.

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/18 at 03:40 PM

As the song goes: “Where do I begin?”

JOS: I’ve been arrested in three different countries.
Owen: Secondhand bookshop smell.
Mudge: Honey, teeth!
To name just three…
I’ll re-visit these lists a few more times.

And then there’s Joe. Heart-breaking stuff, Birthday Boy. Even though you’ve got me by a decade, I can relate to the personal feelings. Having not traveled much, I live vicariously through stories like those you tell. The world is a sad, dangerous place, yes, but perhaps that means the only way to go is up?

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/18 at 04:06 PM

Hello everyone. Some surprising and not-so-surprising answers for today’s post… But it seems like a fun little exercise, and I have some time this afternoon, so I (who might be called an expendable non-expungeable) will participate as well…

Seven random facts about me:

1. I am left-handed, and play guitar right-handed
2. I have scoliosis and suffer chronic back pain
3. I am currently in the studio recording an album (jazz-funk-punk rock)
4. I work 2-3 part-time jobs (also self-employed) to eek out a living
5. I am part native (Potawatomi)
6. I served 5 years in the state-university-industrial complex
7. I served another 3 years in the state-prison-industrial complex

Seven things I can do:

1. Vote (I can now, although I often choose not to exercise that right)
2. Cook and mix drinks (yeah, I used to bartend)
3. Play the guitar (since 1988)
4. Write music
5. Draw and paint
6. Computer programming/hacking
7. Read, interpret, and construct all types of maps (topographic,
thematic, etc)

Seven things I can’t do:

1. Obey unconditionally (see 2)
2. Believe in a God (see 1)
3. Live in certain places, work in certain fields/occupations
4. Eat meat, especially shellfish (very allergic)
5. Sing (I just have a really awful sounding voice!)
6. Play the drums
7. Juggle

And so many other things I can’t do…

Mickey: so what are these films you’ve appeared in?

Posted by RT from Houston, Texass on 09/18 at 04:19 PM

Yes...Expendable RT is back in the house. I was just thinking about you and wondering what’s new in the Houston area, re: evacuees. Love your answers. Jazz-funk-punk rock, huh? Which of the other answers suprised you, I wonder.

As for my acting (sic) career, I did a bunch of low-budget flicks with titles like “Robot Holocaust” and “Necropolis: City of the Dead” in roles that required me to either fight, perform dangerous stunts, and/or be killed in creative ways.

Most notably, I went to Stockton, CA to be in a flick called “Low Blow” that co-starred a pre-Tae Bo Billy Blanks. He still owes me $150.

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/18 at 04:28 PM

RT, you’re in Houston?! Why? There are roads, there are buses, there are cars there are planes you can escape!

Scoliosis pain is awful, I’m told. I’m sorry for your suffering. I have an autoimmune version of arthritis, so I have no useful information to share. Just “there there, pat pat” for the pain parts...amazing how much of that one hears upon sharing the nature of one’s pain, ain’t it so?

Part Potawatomi? Are you from Mobilhoma orignally?

MZ: Yeah, I say “Honey, teeth!” a lot, but he’s young and I’m his first male lover. Small price to pay, he’s a cool guy.

Rosemarie, you think we should organize a trip to Oregon to nag Joe in person until he sits down to write the damn book already?

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/18 at 04:36 PM

MZ: “Most notably, I went to Stockton, CA...”

And you said you’d traveled little! Stockton! >swoon<

Ciao, all, off to my sister’s place for a four-person birthday bash...me, brother-in-law, niece, niece’s husband. January is a BORING month.

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/18 at 04:41 PM

Mudge, should I be more flattered that you have a crush on me or that you consider me a celebrity?

Enjoy your b’day bash…

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/18 at 04:53 PM

Hi everybody...RT, I’m left handed but can only use the mouse with my right hand, even when I am in the paint program making detailed graphics.....Mudge, I assume that you are talking about the Unger who is the genius who developed all of those theories about loops as opposed to the writer of one of my favorite movies, The Perfect Storm??? Don’t worry about getting Joe on the bus. I’m stronger than he is. I’ll just take him by force. I have a crush on you too, Mudge. ......James, Harry, Youngfox, and Owen it is good to see you here today.....Mickey, it is so nice of you to invite us here in your parlor every day.

Posted by rosemarie jackowski from Shocked and Awed on 09/18 at 05:56 PM

Seven things that scare me:

1. the angels’ batting order, esp. vladimir guerrero and adam kennedy. damn i hate seeing them come up in a big spot,
2.big bugs,
3.any bar called mcsomebody’s or o’somebody’s,
4.the slow-motion world of snowpony,
5.the chesapeake bay bridge
6.when a girl i am waiting for is late. i always imagine she is lost or in danger,
7.hell.

Things I Like:

1.rap music,
2.my wurlitzer electric piano, my new nord electro 2, and my slightly older korg ms2000,
3.all brooklyn streets, even the crappy ones,
4.all jersey towns, even the crappy ones,
5.the chronicles of prydain,
6.a pennant race,
7.ice cream.

Random Facts About Me:

1.the first record i put out sold twenty-seven copies,
2.i lived for a summer on thompson street between bleecker and w. houston,
3.my second favorite baseball player of all time is orel hershiser,
4.today i am writing a newspaper article on kickboxing in central new jersey,
5.the last movie i saw in the theatre was crooklyn, more than a decade ago,
6.i once got an a+ on a term paper about buenaventura durruti,
7.i have never voted for a winner.

Things I Can Do:

1.i can change the envelope filter in the middle of a song to great effect; i.e., the sweep synths in “crazy” by seal, only that was programmed by trevor horn, while i can do it in real-time, and while i’m singing,
2.read tarot cards,
3.give directions to japanese tourists,
4.apartment hunt,
5.defeat the end boss of star wars: knights of the old republic (darth malak) with a basically peace-loving jedi consular by flinging my lightsaber at him and running around in a circle,
6.outrage people,
7.pick berries.

Things I Can’t Do:

1.count cards,
2.use flash, java, or adobe illustrator,
3.remember the words to my own songs,
4.lay off the slider in the dirt,
5.hang a poster, painting, mirror, or picture on a wall or window without it looking crooked,
6.accept jesus christ as my personal savior,
7.snap my fingers.

Things I Say The Most:

Say the most:

1.“what key are we in?”,
2.“if we can just get through the seventh and eighth, we’ll be fine”,
3.“colored sprinkles and a wafer cone, please”,
4.“for god’s sake, nobody at 111 first street was being subsidized by the municipal government. the tenants association was involved in a rent dispute with the developer-landlord, and the members thought the city had their backs. it didn’t, and it’s over now, and can we please stop talking about this?”
5.“king of the town, yeah, i been that/ you know i click-clack, where you and your mens at?/ do the smurf, do the wop, baseball bat/ rooftoping like we bringing ’88 back”,
6.“dollar ace-deuce”,
7.“sure”.

I don’t like celebrities.

Posted by tris mccall from jersey city, new jersey on 09/18 at 06:21 PM

Ladies and gentlemen, that was Tris McCall: http://www.trismccall.net.

Thanks, Tris (and I agree about the Angels).

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/18 at 06:31 PM

Mudge: Thankfully, Houston has a lively underground scene… But no, I’m not originally from Houston (or Mobilhoma), but rather from Ohio (where the nishnabec of Ohio are from)...

Re: scoliosis, back pain, etc. > I just deal with it, and just have to be careful is all. And some days are worse than others (as I’m sure is true with your arthritis)

Mickey: I figured the film roles had something to do with Wu Su and/or stunts. And “Robot Holocaust”? lol - that’s great!

Re: Jazz-Funk-Punk Rock—Yeah, I think that’s the best way to describe the sound. Maybe throw metal in the mix as well. I’ve written most all of the music for this project, so it inevitably reflects my influences: Zep, Coltrane, Funkadelic, Hendrix, The Clash, Fugazi, Nirvana, and others.

Anyway, this is just an independently produced studio project with some old “friends”, who have their own interests (business) with the studio effort etc, for which I am not really a part of. In short, I was asked to do this (about a year ago), and thought it would at least be nice to have completed a professional-quality recording to show for myself after all these years. I also like the DIY ethic behind it all. But the album should be finished shortly after the first of the year.

Re: Katrina evacueess—managed to help out on only one other occassion, as I’ve been so busy with work as of late (must keep the roof over my own head first, ya know?)

Rosemarie: ditto. Funny also that my first acts of rebellion had to do with left-handedness, at least according to my mom… For example, when I was a small child, my parents would try to make eat with my right hand when using the spoon, etc. That would just piss me off, and I would start crying and raising a fit, and then switch back over the left in defiance. Guitar was different though. I learned to play right-handed mainly because of the challenge it posed, and also to be able to pick up any standard guitar and play it.

Posted by RT from Houston, Texass on 09/18 at 06:48 PM

Mickey, I am following your lead and sticking with JOS as my “call sign” here among The Expendables, it’s short and sweet...there is actually a town in Nigeria called Jos, and someone told it means luck or something in some Asian language.

Hey, we never decided on the slogan, or did we?

Owen, I love that second hand bookstore smell.

RT, I’m a righty, but I play pool left-handed. Three years?

Mudge, how about YOUR novel? We have some things in common: I am a recovering addict, but something tells me you have more clean time than I do. And this is one of the first places where I feel like I fit in. God damn do I hate self-published novels...unless I decide to do one… and if I do it has to be something that I would like to read.

Oh yeah, and Rosemarie is also my idol.

Mick, at 6’5’’/225, I consider my more of a tight end than a fullback...no jokes please, mudge.

Yes, I have been arrested three times (never convicted of any felonies and I was innocent in every instance, I swear).

Consider this story telling Saturday, the extended version, concerning my first “arrest,” it was more of an interrogation than an arrest, but anyway:

I moved to Singapore with my family when I was in 8th grade and attended the Singapore American School, same school that brat kid who got caned a while back went to, but at different times. I’m not a fan of physical punishment, but some ex-pat kids there deserved it, including him. Let’s just say they were working overtime at validating the term “Ugly American”.

One day, in one of my attempts to “fit in,” I joined a gang of kids who wanted to fight a gang of kids from the British school. We brought all sorts of weapons, numchukas (sp.?), knives, sticks, etc. We met them in front of our school and talked a bunch of trash, just long enough (by chance) to allow the security guards to call the police. They yelled at us and we dispersed. But before we did we put all of our weapons in this one kid’s bag.

Little did we know, he decided to stay on the street hanging out and was picked up that afternoon by the Singapore Police Department. The weaponry was “discovered” and by the time the Detectives had finished questioning him every single person even close to this fiasco had been named.

The next morning the Principle came to my math class to personally escort me to his office.

I walked in and noticed some of my comrades were already there and two plain-clothes detectives were staring at me…Jesus H. Christ were they scary looking. I sat down…

”Stand UP!” one of the detectives yelled. “Who do you think you are dealing with?! Do you know how much trouble you are in? You will all be arrested and banned from Singapore for life.” They proceeded to tell me that I had been identified, along with my brother (10 or eleven years old) as one of those who “touched” and/or carried the knife. I told them that I had but that my brother had not. I insisted and insisted until the little bugger yelled out, “I did, I did hold the knife.”

I guess this show of concern for my brother earned me the respect of the two policemen; they were a lot nicer to me after that.

We ended up dodging the lifetime ban because the father of one of those arrested with me was a good friend of the chief of police. I guess I was pretty close to a caning, too.

Posted by JOS (formerly James from Puerto Rico) from Santurce, Puerto Rico on 09/18 at 06:55 PM

What a crew of troublemakers…

I think this was the slogan of choice:
“When one is expendable, everyone is.”

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/18 at 08:00 PM

JOS, you were arrested 3 times. That makes YOU my idol.

Posted by rosemarie jackowski from doin' time in the big house... on 09/18 at 08:06 PM

well, thank you, Rosemarie...I don’t deserve it, but thank you. Good night, Expendables.

Posted by JOS (formerly James from Puerto Rico) from Santurce, Puerto Rico on 09/18 at 09:57 PM

Hey-- thanks James from Puerto Rico for leaving my namesake to me. You’re right, I can’t go by James or Jimmie, it just can’t work. So I’m happy to be James from Hell’s Kitchen, New York.

Mickey, I’m afraid I bought just one copy of 50AR at Coliseum, but was please as to its size-- fit well into a bag as I want hiking today in Cold Springs upstate.

More to ask/comment about 50AR later, exhausted from hiking so to try my hand at lists quickly:
Okay celebrity crushes:
Katrina vanden Heuvel-- yes, editor of the Nation; have you seen her? Makes me want to go out and vote for Kerry.
Briggitte Bardot, but only for her animal rigths activistm.
Julia Butterfly, and Nigella Lawson here, for balance.
Frank the Auto-Free Kitty
Gotta steal Mickey’s; Nathalie Merchant and Arundhati… inspirational left-wing role models all.

Posted by James from NYC on 09/18 at 11:11 PM

My votes for best NYC veg. restaurants:
Kate’s Corner, Avenue B-- best tofu buffalo wings and vegan pancakes anywhere.

Caravan of Dreams-- best Tempeh anywhere.

Cafe Viva Natural Pizza-- best pizza around, vegetarian and some of it vegan.

Temple in the Village-- best by-the-pound veganish buffet.

Lifethyme-- health food store with the best vegan bakery in the back.

Tiengarden, on Allen st.-- best hot n’ sour soup, vegan or not, & plenty of other items.

Grudgingly, Angelica’s, but man, Mickey, I’m tempted to list Zen Palate instead. After several years of AK’s prices getting higher and portions often smaller, if feels like anything they can do, Caravan can do better. Except the Walnut Lentil Pate, just something about AK’s texture of it. No offense, Mickey…

Posted by James from NYC on 09/19 at 12:29 AM

What a great and enlightening post, Mickey! Thanks for baring your soul - to a degree anyway ..
So it’s true what they say about men - that they think about SEX almost constantly? My husband said something very similar a while ago, and now you have confirmed what he said.
One thing I like doing: visiting your website.
Thanks!
Helga from Australia

Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia on 09/19 at 12:31 AM

>>>Mick, at 6’5’’/225, I consider my more of a tight end than a fullback...no jokes please, mudge.<<<
But JOS, it practically begs to be made!! Please? >sigh< frail flower straight boys, jeez

>>>Yes, I have been arrested three times (never convicted of any felonies and I was innocent in every instance, I swear). <<<

1) Arrested at 17 for having a LOT of pot in my car; good lawyer, Southern mother screaming at her ex the governor (Bill Clements), no record.
2) Domestic violence; much confusion when I explained I was the violated, my then-wife was the violator, great hilarity among the law enforcement officers. No record.
3) Contempt of cop one night in the Village after the 30th anniversary Gay Pride Parade. Called a big bad cop “Piggifer” when I was stopped after beaning him with a foam brick that had “RIOT” printed on it. One day in jail.
4) Contempt of cop after an anti-death penalty rally outside the governor’s mansion. I had to pee so I expressed my opinion of Bush by peeing on the fence railings outside the mansion, cop told me to stop, I peed on him. One day in jail.
5) My younger brother’s wife left him, we went on a major bender, arrested for calling yet another cop “Piggifer,” which she didn’t like a whole lot; they use plastic ties instead of handcuffs now, which made me laugh. Also not popular with cops. One night in jail, community service. Must remember not to call cops “Piggifer” in future.

Clean time? Son, I drank four home-brewed Russian stouts this evening, followed up with half a bottle of red wine. NO, I didn’t drive myself home, nor there, it was my tee-total niece who did the honors since there’s another warrant out for my arrest for the crime of being poor and unable to pay for insurance. I haven’t touched coke since I passed out from arrhythmia in the hall of my building on Maiden Lane in 1997 and went to the hospital, and I quit pot years ago because smoking makes me urp...the booze is a daily struggle, which I win more days than I don’t. So I have less than a day’s sobriety, and that won’t start until I wake up later.

My novel...well, I have no idea when I’ll finish it, or any of the half-dozen others I’ve started. Writer’s block started the day my ex killed our son by driving drunk in 1981. I keep running at the brick wall to see if it’s really papier mache, so far not so much.

If I ever write all this stuff down, I’m callin’ it Drama Camp. At least now, after so many years of therapy and groups and screwed-up living and damage done to all, not to mention sundry, I am talking about it. I’m told that’s healthy. For me, maybe, but y’all...?

What other stories you got to tell us next storytelling Saturday? I liked the Singapore one!

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/19 at 02:09 AM

MZ, you ARE a celebrity. As to my crush on you, it’s over a decade old, what’s the fuss now? Talent, brains, looks, why you aren’t mobbed on a daily basis puzzles me.

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas, blast it on 09/19 at 02:12 AM

Rosemarie, you’re walking, protesting proof that time is the friend of honest beauty and the enemy only of the meretricious. ‘Nuff said.

So Joe’s a goner, he is...you’ve got one arm, I’ve got the other, and man’s gonna GET on that bus and write his blinky-blank book! I need stuff to read!!

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/19 at 02:22 AM

Hello Tris, nice to meet you, and let me express my enthusiasm for Scumbaguette! I love “Go Away and Meet Some People” especially, and this exchange made me laugh like a hyena:

GILLIGAN

I don’t know, am I, um, am I a freak? I guess I’m about to find out, I’m going to be alone, I’ll have lots of time to think about it.

CUSTOMER

Ah, sheddup already.

Modern life in a nutshell! Thanks, I needed a jolt out of self-pity and that worked well!

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/19 at 02:32 AM

>>>So it’s true what they say about men - that they think about SEX almost constantly?<<<

Almost constantly, Hlega? No, not really. Constantly. It’s like breathing. THinking about it without even thinking about it, if you see what I mean.

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/19 at 02:45 AM

RT, so you’re a First Person...but Ohio? Okay, it’s on a great lake, but the Algonkian Nation most likely originated farther north than Ohio.

Oh well, you’re in Houston >retch< now, and for some reason seem to like it. My adopted sister lives south of Houston, in Bacliff, so I’ve been there a fair bit, and if Austin’s hotter’n a whore’s crotch in August, Houston’s wetter. Bleah.

Pain just makes one “zero out” at a higher point than the civilians, I’ve noticed. Some days it’s bad...a chemical burn from the inside out seems to get close to it...but what we call “bad” would make a newbie beg for morphine. My genetic sister Goodie Two Choos just had her first attack of autoimmune arthritis...the last one of us to fall...and she called me at two AM Texas time from California to ask if it ever got any better or if she should go on and kill herself now. She was only half kidding.

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/19 at 03:00 AM

JOS, I am simply not able to go to my cold and lonely couch without making the damn joke!

“So we should call you ‘Tighty Whitey,’ huh?”

heeheeheeheehee

Posted by Mudge the Expendable from Texas on 09/19 at 03:09 AM

Seven Things that Scare Me:
1. Automobiles
2. David Ortiz (So much power)
3. “Intelligence” Agencies
4. Deep water
5. Natural disasters
6. Military culture
7. The possibility that people will never wake up

Seven Things that I Like the Most:
1. Cats
2. Garlic
3. Communist Anarchy
4. Reading
5. Green Tea
6. My friends
7. Bicycles

Seven Random Facts about Me:
1. I bicycle…everywhere.
2. I still have sensitive hands from playing
catcher in little league.
3. My cat is the greatest being of all time.
4. I was named “homecoming king” for my
grade 2 years ago (I graduated in June).
5. My senior class voted me most likely to lead a Marxist revolution.
6. I don’t like sleep.
7. I was raised Unitarian.

Seven Things I plan to do Before I Die:
1. Become fluent in 3 other languages besides
English.
2. Bicycle cross-country.
3. Visit Europe.
4. Read the complete works of Marx & Engels.
5. Become an expert-bike mechanic.
6. Participate in publishing radical books.
7. Partake in revolutionary insurrection.

Seven Things I Can Do:
1. Explain the basics of radical ideas.
2. Speak Spanish very well, but not quite fluently.
3. Make damn good veggie stir-fry.
4. Dumpster-dive dinner.
5. Belch louder than anyone you know.
6. Bicycle great distances.
7. Tell you the where the niftiest places are in the Pacific Northwest.

Seven Things I Can’t Do:
1. Drive an automobile.
2. Initiate conversations with strangers.
3. Eat animal products.
4. Tolerate religion.
5. Forget about revolution.
6. Tolerate wage-slavery.
7. Root for the Yankees.

Seven Things I say the Most:
1. Meow
2. Libertarian communism is necessary because…
3. It’s all the spectacle anyways
4. Fuck
5. Totality
6. I hate capitalism.
7. Stupid derailleur

I’m opposed to the cult of personality/celebrity, if I have crushes they’re on people I see regularly first-hand.

Posted by J.N.R. from Portland, OR on 09/19 at 05:15 AM

Welcome, JNR from Portland. If you hate the Yanks but fear Ortiz, which team do you root for?

Thanks for joining in…

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/19 at 05:23 AM

I’m a big Mariners fan. They’re pathetic this year, but not for long (watch out for Felix Hernandez, he’s 19 and he pitches like Pedro, except better) The Red Sox and Yankees are the same thing, this playoff season I’d like to see Oakland or Cleveland take the AL pennant, I’m sick of Boston and NY.

Posted by J.N.R. from Portland, OR on 09/19 at 05:28 AM

Even though I’m a Yankee fan by birth, my favorite player is Ichiro. And yeah, I’ve seen Felix pitch. He’s got it.

If the Yanks miss the playoffs, I’m rooting for Oaklnd (the team with the least $$$) or St. Louis (the team that played best all season). Anyone but Boston.

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/19 at 05:33 AM

Think about it (or not)

*** Elaine enters Jerry’s apartment ***

Jerry: “How ya doin’?”

Elaine: “Not good. I’m a moron.”

Jerry: “Well, don’t worry about it. Once he passes the test, you’ll have sex again, and you’ll be fine.”

Elaine: “Well, that kinda brings us to why I’m here. You got eleven minutes?”

Jerry: “What for? Oh come on.”

Elaine: “I just wanna clear my head. It has nothing to do with you.”

Jerry: “I think it has something to do with me!”

Elaine: “You could read the paper through the whole thing if you want.”

Jerry: (thinks about it for a second as to reconsider) “No, no, no. I’m sorry, it’s too weird.”

Elaine: “Oh, all right. Is Kramer home?”

Posted by Pebbles from Van Nuys (deep in the valley) on 09/19 at 06:29 AM

7 minor things that make me irrationally angry

1. people who type everything IN CAPITALS
2. people who don’t have their money or card ready at a checkout or ATM and spend ten minutes fishing in their handbag and then purse to get whatever is needed out and then ten minutes putting it all back again before they let the next person in
3. people who punctuate with their fingers when they speak
4. people who say ‘actually’ or ‘basically’ as part of every sentence (this is a west coast of scotland thing i think)
5. the microsoft office assistant annoying little paperclip thing
6. people who don’t know if the earth goes round the sun or if its the other way about (ask 10 random people this question - and i have done it in a few different countries - and you will be appalled at how many people don’t know this)
7. people who accuse others of being ‘immature’

Posted by michael from scotland on 09/19 at 07:32 AM

Hi Pebbles. How does the Valley stack up against Ohio?

Believe or not, I’ve never watched “Seinfeld” but now I’m motivated to own every episode on DVD.

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/19 at 10:12 AM

Seven things I like
Mickey Z (um..and love too)
My friends and family
Food and beer especially French fries, Dark chocolate, Cheese-free pizza ( I know and yes it is possible)and Brooklyn Lager
Richard Derus (even though he hates me)
People watching
Fantasizing
Helping people

Seven things that scare me
Overly Conservative people
The people that aren’t nice to mickey z on the internet ( please find someone else to focus on, he is the coolest person..just try having a conversation with him instead!)
The thought of losing the people I love and growing old and sick alone (I know, depressing but true)
The dark
Public showers without wearing flip flops (well not scare but gross me out)
Butchers with those bloody coats who walk out in the street to do errands (take off the coat guys)
hospitals

Seven things I can do
Be very silly
Run fast
Snowboard
Love almost anyone
Worry
Wonder about everything
Have a good time almost anywhere with almost anyone doing almost anything

Seven things I can’t do
Stop thinking about sex (Of course I had to say this too!)
Fix things well (but I try really hard too!)
Stop worrying
Make a flip turn while swimming
Read with the music on
Skateboard
Not care
Count

Seven things I say the most
I love you
Please hug me
I lost my phone (keys,wallet,bag)
I found my phone(keys,wallet,bag)
I have too much to do
Lets take a nap, I feel like someone hit me on the heade with a 2 by 4..
Lets _____
Lets go…..(anywhere, anything, anytime,)

Seven Celebrity Crushes
Arundhati Roy
Cassidy and Kristen of Antigone Rising
Matthew McConaughey
Tara Dakides
Ichiro Suzuki
That Blake tennis player guy before he grew a beard.

Posted by michele from kitchen table on 09/19 at 09:54 PM

bit late with this so probably noone will see this but here goes anyway....

7 things i never get tired of…

1. the collected essays, journalism and letters of George Orwell volumes 1-4 (particularly this essay http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/index.cgi/work/essays/language.html )
2. Unfortunately for me, smoking
3. the album ‘the queen is dead’ by the smiths
4. sunny days
5. snowy days
6. standing on top of a mountain with a hip flask with some whisky, and an excellent tune or two on ipod
7. slagging off tony blair

Posted by michael from scotland on 09/20 at 10:39 AM

Sure, it may seems quasi-legit to an outside observer… my veganism, appearance of passion for equality and justice, compulsive reading of Bakunin, Chomsky, and Buddha, expressed admiration for anyone willing to challenge the dominant structures of religious, state, and corporate oppression and a stated wish to stand in solidarity with them and join them whenever possible…

But, ultimately, it’s all a fiendishly devious ploy to get closer to Arundhati Roy.

I’m glad someone understands, Mickey.

Posted by Marc Albion from Detroit on 09/26 at 07:58 PM

Long time, no hear, Marc...but I must admit: Your comment was a classic. Thanks.

Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria on 09/26 at 08:13 PM

Next entry: The real looters step up, let's blame Ellen, & Marxist sea mammals

Previous entry: My first anti-war protest...plus: Mick Jagger and Happy B'day to Joe from Oregon

Contact

info @ mickeyz.net

Mickey Z 2.0

Events

We Declare Peace

Thursday, June 10, 7:30 pm

An Evening with Astoria Writers and Musicians

@ Waltz-Astoria
Waltz-Astoria 23-14 Ditmars Blvd.
Astoria, NY 11105
718- 95MUSIC

SAVE THE HERD!

Animal Rights Benefit in Tompkins Square Park

June 13, 2-6 pm

Tompkins Square Park, NYC

Mickey Z takes the stage about 4pm

Thinning the Herd, NYC’s favorite indie rock trio, will host a special “Save The Herd” sound-fest in the East Village. The concert will showcase a rare all-star lineup headlined by Thinning the Herd featuring four other popular hard working bands on the NYC rock scene. Between sets, comedians and public speakers will talk about animal rights, vegetarianism and humane lifestyles.