unstructured Monday...

at least until 5:30 when I am meeting my friend Clint and Kim at Formerly Crows, the bar in the village that is owned by Marshall, the former owner of South Fourth.  Yes South fourth, that is no longer---as I write about it I realize how much I miss it---I might even be there now, if it was opened. Always a nice time, someone to talk to--speaking of that, yesterday I spent most of the late morning and afternoon at Cobra Club, in Bushwick,which is about the closest thing to South Fourth. Olivia, my friend and the bartender had returned from her Christmas holiday, spent with her family, and she was there with the usual characters---some pleasant, some a little bit abrasive, but I left there after about 4 hours feeling that I had had a good time. I had a very interesting talk with Mike, a former jazz player, whose age seems to be somewhere between 55 and 80. Really hard to tell. He was raised in Baltimore (the afro-American section) but we were able to identify some streets we had in common, then he moved to NY as a teen-ager and lived where he lives now---right near the Bushwick-Bedford Stuyvesant border. His parents actually bought their house in the 50's---of course land in Bushwick was pretty inexpensive then, and he and his brother have lived there (I guess) ever since. Of course, now the value of his land has increased---God knows how much. So we talked, I watched the Packer-Lion football game (sad loss at the last minute for the Lions) and then I hung out with Matt, the next bartender. That place is really becoming home base for me---might visit there some other mornings this week, in addition to Sunday. Finally the football playoffs are beginning! Looking forward to the next three Sundays.
  Saturday after my session, wanted to see a movie, but everything was timed wrong. Finally after visiting three movie theaters and seeing that for all I would have to wait an hour, I retreated to La Flaca where I stayed for the next three, mostly watching basketball games. Bartender Benjy is always friendly---no other "regulars" or friends were there, but the time moved nicely.
  I just got the Elaine Stritch biography out of the library, should be fun (and relaxing) reading, and be a good complement to Benjamin Lerner's novel about Topeka---kind of intense with a lot of time changes---reading about Stritch and the environment she functioned in which I already know well. should be a nice change of pace. Anyway, will report soon.