did something epic last night. did not think I could do it. Success greeted me this AM. I fixed my Bose headphones. I had considered buying a fresh set, as their noise cancelling has proven to be gold for me. Then I noticed that for 7 or 8 bucks you can get replacement earpads. This comes at the obvious risk of destroying the headphones. But I took the chance. I was loaded, too, which makes it all the more amazing that I accomplished this bit of physical logistica. I am not good with new situations, new physical challenges, new environments. But my new enthusiasm for binaural audio and listening to things recorded thus fueled my desire to have an ace set of headphones again. Now I am at a Starbucks listening to Lubomyr Melnyk and nothing else, save for the occasional blast of whatever machine it is here that makes that gassy noise. Reading John Ashbery and just being here. It is cold as butt out there. Realizing that my life suffers from lack of company. Meeting David for coffee tomorrow in Woodside.
Went to Resorts World again, probably for the last time in the foreseeable future. The experience was not as pleasant as last week. The bus was not the luxury vehicle of last week. it was perfectly passable but it provided a much rougher ride than last time. I was bouncing up and and about. sitting toward the back, where I guess the shock absorbers are less effective? I don’t know but it was like an earthquake at times. Being at RW was fine. I went to the so-called “more elegant” 5th Avenue Casino. going up there i joked to myself about what would make it classier than the Times Square Casino. I imagined they would have crystal chandeliers and blow jobs at every slot machine. There were no blow jobs but I got a laugh out of the plastic-bead chandeliers, which added just the right touch of class.
I blew $80, but I feel like I robbed the place. I brought my field recorder and mics and captured about an hour of casino sounds. It’s kind of a joyful chaos, a mix of 1980s-era video game music with what sounds like something from a batmitzvah or some kind of children’s party. From its innards rises the cacophony of the jackpot. It was an amazing sound.
I am giving the field reorder a break, though. Got preoccupied with the potential of losing it or having to replace it.
I was surprised no security goons thought it odd that I was wearing headphones and talking into thin air, or that my jacket looked bulky enough that I might have had a dozen pipe bombs strapped to my body underneath. I had the field recorder in a case that I had over my shoulder, underneath the jacket. And the jacket is my nuclear-proof LLBean gittup that weighs more than i do. I would have thought i looked suspicious but since I did not have a bag I just walked on in. no metal detectors there that I could detect.
The bar at the “elegant” 5th Avenue casino looked like a saloon. if I go back to RW it will be to record more sounds and to sit at the 360 Bar downstairs. The ride there, of course, is free. But it leaves from Elmhurst. I wonder if the Q37 bus would take the same amount of time. Or the A train, though that relies on a shuttle bus from the station to the casino
Not sure what I am doing with this precious gift of a day. Listening to music and reading poetry. hey, why not?
Ashbery just made me laugh: “Am I myself, or a talking tree?” I don’t know, man. I do not know.
