Joe reports revenue is down. I was kind of hoping to make enough to purchase a Zoom (drum) box, but it will have to wait. Especially since I paid the full electric bill, including Wallace’s share, for the last two months. If Wallace is broke now, wait until he sees the new lump on Millie. I feel sorry for them both, but being useless is an option, not a requirement of old age. Wallace could be living in paradise without paying a cent if he’d only change his terrible attitude.He’s still going on about Theresa having “too much stuff”, although it is precisely the stuff we’ve been talking about getting for years. Possibly he wants a tenant who shows up with a backpack. He’s scheming at something but it won’t do him any good. He’s staying away, trying to pretend he's been exiled. That is a complete fabrication. It has never been nicer here. And it is great that he isn't hanging around here all day crabbing about the jews, niggers and everything else. He is also saying he doesn’t have privacy but same as ever, he has his own room for that.
He’s asking for trouble and he is going to find it. He is completely out of his league and has made the error of lying on a court document.
Now on to important news. Downtown is lacking the pizzazz of earlier years. Miami doesn’t have the same core as most cities; it certainly has no old downtown district. It is mainly pawn shops and government offices, both of which prey on the down and out. I was easily four times as mobile as the traffic, probably more if you count the times I go ignore the one-ways.
I used to work in downtown Miami and it was, what’s the word, emotive to see the old places. If it has more than 50 stories, I was probably there. Espiritu Santo, The Four Seasons, The Mandarin Oriental. What’s lacking is the teeming business of the early decade. I was tempted to peek into the hotel but it looked deserted from Brickell Avenue.
Business from the courthouses and such has tapered off completely. I had no deliveries within the law offices. The only buildings which seem full are what Orwell might call the Ministries. One curious edifice is the Ingraham Building, right out of an old Batman movie, missing the gargoyles. Everything is old world, right down to the polished brass in the elevators. It has no retail shops, only endless small offices.
Flower delivery has been revolutionized by GPS and computer graphics. All orders are on-line and each address prints with its own map. Part of the slow day is undoubtedly that the 14th is on a Sunday this year. I zipped over to Quizno’s afterward, but Alaine was just pulling away and I could not stick around. JP and I chatted for ten minutes, convincing me I need a new car so I can reliably visit my own friends. I just don’t trust the old Taurus, which is misbehaving, as in asthmatic.
No beach gig. The winter wind, although not cold, is chillier along the waterfront. The Hippie called, saying maybe in another few weeks, meaning he’s got other musicians for tonight’s show and doesn’t want to pay me. That guitarist from Tamarac called about my country duo. That is a no-go, he is super pro and although certainly worth what he’s paid, that is not the same as what he can expect to make locally. The average pay has dropped to $75 per musician and not many joints want to pay even that. He was also over-protective about exchanging song lists. I haven’t ruled anything out, but you can’t start from the top in Hollywood because there isn’t any top.
