{"id":918,"date":"2004-09-11T01:02:18","date_gmt":"2004-09-11T05:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/?p=918"},"modified":"2010-12-22T09:10:12","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T13:10:12","slug":"journal-91104","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/?p=918","title":{"rendered":"journal 9\/11\/04"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day started out badly. I start almost every day with a\r\ncup of Earl Grey tea (in a wonderful mug that Bethany made for\r\nme, with a little honey) and 1010 WINS (a local all-news radio\r\nstation).<\/P>\r\n\r\n

The tea was as good as it usually is, but I quickly turned\r\n1010 WINS off again. Ceremony from Ground Zero (I hate it when\r\npeople call it Ground Zero), the reading of the names (I really\r\ndon't need or want to hear the reading of the names), and I'm\r\nsure some ridiculous and meretricious connection between the\r\nevents of 9\/11\/01 and the events of 2004.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

I ended up listening to WFAN (the local all-sports station)\r\nand found out that Chris \"Mad Dog\" Russo is about the same as\r\never. I had been thinking about him since he and his partner\r\n(Mike Francesa) had just been profiled in The New Yorker\r\nmagazine. They have been talking sports together on the radio in\r\nNew York for 15 years, but they hated each other when they\r\nstarted (I heard their first broadcast and the tension was very\r\nobvious), and they're not exactly friends even now.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

In the afternoon, I went to a bookstore (two, really) in\r\nsearch of plays set in a bar. I found a copy of The Iceman\r\nCometh,<\/I> but couldn't find a copy of The Time of Your Life.<\/I> I\r\nguess maybe Saroyan isn't so hip these days. I'll try again\r\ntomorrow.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

(If anybody can suggest any other plays set in a bar,\r\nlet me know. As long as 1) they're good, and 2) they're\r\nset entirely in a bar.)<\/P>\r\n\r\n

(This is because the chapter I'm writing now is set entirely\r\nin a bar, by the way. [If you want to read it, it's right here<\/A>.]<\/P>\r\n\r\n

When I was at the bookstore, I looked at Art Spiegelman's In\r\nthe Shadow of No Towers.<\/I> It looks wonderful, and I'm sure I'll\r\nbreak down and buy it soon.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

I was looking for something enjoyable to do in the evening. I\r\ndecided to go see a movie. First I thought of The Brown\r\nBunny.<\/I><\/P>\r\n\r\n

I know, it got incredibly bad notices from Cannes, but 1) now\r\nthat 27 minutes were cut from the Cannes version, even Roger\r\nEbert says it's good (or maybe he was just scared because Vincent\r\nGallo said Ebert should get cancer and then Ebert did get\r\ncancer), 2) Vincent Gallo directed Buffalo 66.<\/I> And I loved\r\nBuffalo 66.<\/I><\/P>\r\n\r\n

But, much as I want to see The Brown Bunny,<\/I> it sounds a\r\nlittle depressing. And that's not really what I need on\r\nSeptember 11, of any year.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

Then the obvious answer came to me. End of the Century.<\/I>\r\nWhat movie could be more positive about New York City? (It's a\r\ndocumentary about the Ramones, the band that created punk rock.)\r\nI went and saw it, and it was great.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

Four guys from Queens, three chords, two minute songs and one\r\nquarter of a century (more, really). Interviews with all the\r\nband members (including the later replacements), family and\r\nbusiness associates, and just people who were on the scene. Plus\r\nmany people from other bands who owe a lot to the Ramones\r\n(including Joe Strummer of the Clash, now dead).<\/P>\r\n\r\n

And, most importantly, interviews with Joey and DeeDee Ramone\r\n(both also now dead). And a few moments where I was the only\r\nperson in the theater laughing.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

And, similar to Mike and the Mad Dog (mentioned above) Johnny\r\nand Joey Ramone (the only two members of the band to last all the\r\nway through) disliked each other and seldom spoke, especially\r\nafter Johnny married Joey's girlfriend. But they could do\r\nsomething together that they couldn't do alone.<\/P>\r\n\r\n

The movie was a good choice for September 11. And I came home\r\nand changed the filter in my Brita water pitcher. Because, on\r\n9\/11\/01, when I got home, I thought to change the filter in my\r\nBrita pitcher. I've always had trouble remembering when to change\r\nit, and I figured that I'd always remember September 11. And I\r\nwas right.<\/P>

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The day started out badly. I start almost every day with a cup of Earl Grey tea (in a wonderful mug that Bethany made for me, with a little honey) and 1010 WINS (a local all-news radio station). The tea was as good as it usually is, but I quickly turned 1010 WINS off again. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[32,27],"class_list":["post-918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-blog","tag-ramones","tag-september-11"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=918"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1874,"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/revisions\/1874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u-town.com\/collins\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}