So here we are at another 365 red-letter day, Day 100. Whoa.
Anyone wanna tag in? Wrestlemania is tomorrow, you know? Anyone wanna run the
next 100 meters? We got to be due for an Olympics at some point soon. Well on
Day 200 ( I checked. It was 201.) in Operation 365 1, I did a tune called “200
Days.” You can hear it here if you’re hella eager, (I’ll take hella eager over
hella apathetic any time, frankly,)
Anyway, seemed prudent to have a “100 Days” tune, sort of a
matching set type thing. Who knows. The chords are A, D, E if you want to play
along or rip solos or anything. I improvised the words once I hit record. I had
a lovely day with my friends, Maddie Moon and Nate and Jade (Congratulations!
yesterday, oh, and super pooch Mr. Pibb. So love and acknowledgements to them
all for their fine Vista/OB hospitality yesterday.
Operation 365 2– Jefferson Jay – Covers – 100 “You’ve Got
Time” by Regina Spektor
I’ve been on a binge with the TV theme songs,
(unintentionally) this week. Here is Regina Spektor’s “You’ve Got Time,” which is the
theme for Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” a show I watch. I guess we’ve
all got time in a way. It depends on how you view life. If you view it as a
pleasure of a gift, well, in a way you’ve still got time, because no one stays
forever, but if you look at life as less pleasant, well, maybe you feel like you’ve got time every day.
There are many things that can terrorize a human these days. The news, cat
burglars, trans fats, Monsanto, nicotine, planes, helicopters, road rage,
reality TV, Diet Coke, pork rinds, all sorts of things. I guess it’s best to
try to feel blessed and not so much incarcerated. Sometimes I see folks who
look like they feel incarcerated and my heart goes out to them. I know some
folks who are actually incarcerated. My heart go out to them too. I saw this
week about a judge who’s going away for 28 years cause he took a million
dollars to put (relatively) innocent kids in prison. Ouch. Come one, Judge. Not
nice. You could do better.
Speaking of places people want to get out of, I believe Regina
Spektor did some time at my old alma mater, Fair Lawn High School. It was after
my time so I don’t really know how that all worked out, but congratulations to
her, for emerging from the borough that is Fair Lawn. I wonder if she starred
in the musical sat FLHS, like I did, so many years ago. I believe this is the
25th show, my math says it should be 24th, for John Giresi, the
fellow who directs the musicals over at Fair Lawn High. My senior show was his
first show. I played Seymour. We did “Little Shop of Horrors.” It was a
difficult time for me. My best friend died a month before the show took the
stage. I have fond recollections of that production. It helped me through the
most difficult time of my life. I am glad Mr. Giresi has made it and if we helped
get him off to great start (We did.) then all the better. Way to keep to going
for 24 or 25 years.
One last piece of Fair Lawn business. Last week, my old
Physics teacher, Howie Friedman
passed away. There was an article in the Huffington Post about it.
So, I guess I should say a few words about Mr. Friedman.
One, I liked his Physics class. It was the only part of science I ever
understood. Guy deserves some credit for that, a lot actually. I, to this day,
like physics. It remains the only science I really get at all. In my first
songs I ever wrote, with dear pal and fellow Demarests member, Scott Baslaw,
part of the lyrical inspiration was “we’ll fly past C (the speed of light) to save
our family,” words from my deepest hopes in dreams after the passing of the
best friend things I referenced earlier. That’s not all.
I was in The Boptones. Junior year, I sang back up. Mr.
Freidman gave me one lead, “Rocket Man,” by Elton John. I fell on my face
pretty dramatically practicing that one in front of the upperclassmen. I
eventually cut it myself, to spare me further embarrassment. The song was way
too hard for me then. Still ain’t easy… It’s what our eloquent lead singer that
year Eric Townsend would have called an “abortion.” He was sweet…
My senior year, I sang lead for the Boptones. Had a lot of
tunes and costume change for each one. The Boptones was a pretty big deal. We
sold out the 800-seat auditorium. That was Howie Freidman. He’d sing too. “I
Put A Spell on You,” “Aqualung.” It was triumphant and disgusting. A
student/teacher rock band, my first rock band. Who knows how profoundly it’s effected
me? Probably more than I’ll ever realize. So thank again to Mr. Freidman for
that too.
Perhaps my one bone to pick with Mr. Friedman, God rest his
soul, was really only a bone I have to pick with myself. After Tony, the
afore-mentioned best friend died in February 1992, I was about as fucked up as
you could possibly be. Way more fucked up than I had ever previously conceived.
I was in very bad shape. I could have used a tender shoulder or some words of
wisdom from Mr. Friedman. He didn’t have it in him. Maybe that’s not his fault.
He was a Physics teacher, Maybe he just wasn’t a warm and cuddly guy. I didn’t
really expect that from my other teachers, but he was so visionary and
open-minded in some ways, I felt I really could have used it from him. He was
the opposite of warm and when years passed and I’d visit and he’d be extremely
warm to the young ladies I’d graduated with and barely cordial with me. I
didn’t like that much either.
I forgive you Mr. Freidman. I’m sure it wasn’t personal and
you were doing the best you could. So was I. Maybe you were disappointed it
wasn’t better then. I don’t know. I forgive myself for wishing you’d done more
all these years too. That ledger is closed. I apologize for having expectations
of you and I like to think you’d have been sorry if you’d known I was
disappointed or how much I help I really needed way back then. Thank God these
are simpler times. May the children enjoy their high school musical this
weekend and not have to do it in a cloud of rage over the loss of their best
friend. May they just have happy, simple, high school times, like I did in
Physics class, ‘til February 1992.
May we all have Peace like Mr. Freidman now does. Thanks,
Howie. I’m ready to give you the benefit of the doubt now. You tried. Sorry, it
took me all this time.
Operation 365 2 – Jefferson Jay – Words – 100 “Do What Warms
Your Heart”
There’s a lot of unhappy people out there in the world and
it saddens me. People build up problems or feel guilty about things from the
past. Who knows what it is that gets folks down? Depression. All sorts of
things, I suppose. Today, I offer a few gentle suggestions of things to that can
turn those frowns upside down. Some sunshine… Something that warms your heart.
Whatever it takes. Life is meant to be enjoyed. I wish that for everyone.
I sat out in the sun and played a lot of new jamborees for
awhile before recording this and it made my heart feel placid.
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