Category: Nightlife
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Couch Surfin’ All Over the World: Part Three
I’m driving around the airport in circles. Harry’s plane just landed at noon. He will be emerging outside at the Arrivals area any minute now. The weather is a perfect Buffalonian 22 degrees and dropping, with delicate snowflakes fluttering around peacefully. I hope he brought a coat. After my third lap down Genesee Street and…
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Couch Surfin’ All Over the World
Halloween’s ghosts have risen from the ashes to walk the streets again, visiting friends, relatives – maybe even you. Their old haunts may look a little different now – what was once a brothel, say, is now Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen – but ghosts have a knowing sense of direction. They can find their way around.…
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Please, Stand By
Christmas Eve 2020 It hasn’t been 24 hours yet so it’s still ok for me to be fuming because once midnight hits and the ghost of Jacob Marley arrives in my boudoir along with the ghosts of however many other ex fling-a-boo’s, I have to be ready. Prepared. Armed to the teeth. It’s been four…
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Smooty’s Funeral
The cemetery grass is vivid green and speckled with dozens of mourners. Many are here to pay their respects today, looped around gravestones in the humid sunshine. The crusty clouds of morning finally got the hint, and decided to clear out. At least you can sleep now, Jason. His casket gleams silver – locked and…
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Enmeshed in Mess
At the edge of my immediate neighborhood lies a hill upon which one district rolls into another. On this hill are ramshackle duplexes of ill repute, washed in dirt and years of decay. A revolving cast of probationers and ex-cons cloud its reputation. Many vagabonds have trudged across this soil. And it is here where…
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Always a Side, Never a Bride
Jeremy the wine clerk won me over for the simple fact that I can’t “Just Say No” to a Gen X-er who looks like he fronted a 90’s band like Fuel or Bush. In fact, Jeremy plays guitar. I saw him working at the wine store last week and commented that I had never…
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Hot Spring TV – Just 4 U
I’m triggered every time I turn on my TV. Triggered to do what, exactly? Well, maybe TV is different for those without deadly vices. Happy-go-lucky folks seem to dig cooking challenges and talent competitions. They’re gratifying, satisfying, and wholesome fun for the whole entire family! However, my go-to shows are “Intervention” and “Celebrity Fame and…
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Comfortably Dumb
They bulldozed the whole block to the ground and now there’s nothing but a big black hole. It’s as vast as the universe. It stretches deep into the core of the Earth. But just like the universe, it’s not empty. Who knows what goes on underground? In Vegas, there’s thousands of people living in underground…
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Abducted in Poughkeepsie
“Gibson Mcaskill and Crosby, LLP,” I recite the law firm name painted on a brick wall behind me, in the tone of voice an anchor girl would use before removing her top. “You’re beautiful,” shouts a man from parts unknown. “Cut,” says Pete. He lowers the camcorder. “That was really good.” “Now what?” Randy says.…
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Lifestyles of the Rich and the Homeless
Oh, to be nice. Isn’t it so rare? Nice, nice, nice. Nice guys finish last. Well, that’s a good thing. Nice guys make sure their ladies come first. NICE! What I really need is a nice man. Someone who considers my feelings. Pete seems like he can keep up. Plus, he makes me laugh. He…
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