Since I'd found such an advantageous parking spot yesterday, I decided to keep the floating book shop local rather than venture to Park Slope, where parking is always a problem. It got hairy for a while, as there were mounds of garbage piled along the curb, most in large plastic bags. It was the debris from the first floor apartments damaged by the flood waters generated by Sandy. A large truck came along and settled close to the line of cars on that side of the street so that he wouldn't block the flow of traffic along East 13th. All I could do was collapse the passenger side mirror of my Hyundai and hope for the best. The driver worked his hydraulic cab and lowered the dumpster to the asphalt, and the construction crew went to work filling it. They did a great job. No car suffered even minor damage.
It was a glorious, indian summer day, made more so by some book sales. A gentleman bought two pocket size Russian/English New Testaments, and a black guy bought a Chinese/English one for a friend, as well as a couple of paperback thrillers for himself. Two women women bought a total of seven children's books, another bought Suzi Orman's The Courage To Be Rich, Alan bought Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor, a huge tome, and Michael donated eleven novels in Russian, one of which was borrowed by the elderly hand-holding couple, who have given me so many books in their native tongue. Michael's family has been in America 35 years. He has not been back to Russia, nor does he have any desire to visit. Thanks, folks.
I was visited by two of my favorites: Steve, the Poet Laureate of Sheepshead Bay, and OWS Jack, who has the solution to the Middle East - a single, secular state combining Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. He is certain it would produce a lasting peace. Somehow, I think there might be some militant Islamist militants who disagree. Steve was returning from teaching a music class on Shostakovitch that was centered on a piece of music inspired by the Nazi slaughter of Russian citizens. I mentioned how I was enjoying Bill Brown's book on the '80's music scene. I was impressed that Steve was familiar with acts I'd missed like the Bongos and Cris Williamson. He even knew the name of the latter's most successful album, The Changer and the Changed. My buddy Bags has the twelve inch vinyl of the Bongos' Number with Wings. It's so catchy I think I would have recalled hearing it. Some things just fall through the cracks of your life. Here's a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbzYn48qJxU Enjoy.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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