Cleaning My Apartment

Okay, today there’s no time for a trip out anywhere as I have to clean my apartment and it’ll take all day and all of the night to quote Ray Davies. My parents are coming to town tomorrow and my apartment is kind of a wreck. I’ve been so busy with this blog, I haven’t had time to clean it since I started it back in February and it wasn’t in great shape back then! So today’s post will be some before shots and then a trip around my apartment after it’s all cleaned up. Hazel!

Okay, here's the "before" photos. My coffee table area is a real mess. Shit's piled up on it and the ash tray's need cleaning. There's also dustballs underneath and the table needs cleaning. And there's that stupid Beatles Anthology that didn't sell.

Here's a troubled area over in the corner next to my futon. Stacks of crap are everywhere and I need to throw some of this stuff out.

My writing area under my loft bed is a mess and its very dusty.

I don't think I've straightened up this cabinet area in my kitchen in years and it's definitely out of hand.

This part of the kitchen is especially disturbing. There's a buildup of magazines, newspapers and junk that I've ignored for years. Time to clean this shit up.

The appliances in here all need a good going over with some cleanser.

Lots of stuff need to be broke down and put together to take out to the recycling bin.

There's dust on the bookcase.

Dirt on the walls.

The bathroom's not too bad, but it could use a little work and those Amy Winehouse pictures definitely need straightening!

Okay, all my cleaning supplies are in place, time to get to work!

Okay, it's a few hours later and I've cleaned the front room. I'm just starting to tackle the problem area in the kitchen and it's a real mess. That phone book is from 2005 to let you know how long I've let this go.

It's crazy, the more I clean, the more stuff seems to be spilling out here. I've been working over five hours now. Time to get something to eat.

This is what I eat when I don't go somewhere for the blog, a big salad from the corner deli. It's a giant salad of mixed greens, carrots, broccoli, snow peas, pasta and chicken cutlet. This is all I eat on my days I don't eat for the blog to balance things out. Can't be eating cheeseburgers every night. Okay, back to work and then it'll be time for the "after" photos.

Alright, I started this at one in the afternoon and it's now 10:30 PM and I'm all done. Quite a day of work, but its paid off. Check out the front room. Everything's dusted, cleaned and back in order and Gumby is resting comfortably on the futon.

Everything's back in place on my coffee table, one of my favorite things in my apartment. It houses my books, magazines and the little tchotchkes and knick-knacks I've collected through the years.

The problematic corner by my futon is all back to normal and I threw a lot of crap out.

My entertainment center is all dusted, polished and straightened up.

And I polished the bookcase with Murphy Oil Soap and you can see the books shining in the wood.

I cleaned my refrigerator which I've ignored for about a year.

There was about an inch of dust on the top of it and now it's all spic and span. Gumby and crew are happy with the new clean environment.

I got all the dirt off of this wall.

And the kitchen area is spotless. This was the hardest part to clean up. I had let it go for a long time and it was a real wreck.

I cleared and straightened up the top cabinets which were a mess and overflowing with junk. I also hung up the Sloppy Joe's Towel from Key West that Al sent me for Christmas.

The microwave and cooking area is all cleaned up and shining like a new dime.

And I cleared out the problematic area that had piles of magazines, newspapers and junk from years of throwing stuff there and ignoring it. It's so nice to have finally cleared this up.

By the time I got to my writing area I was beat, but still managed to dust it and straighten things up a bit. The bathroom was the last place I needed to clean. As I said earlier, it wasn't too bad, but I managed to straighten Amy's photos and clean it a little bit more. Let's go take a look.

Aaaahhhhhh!

Further Reading: Apartment Ratings, Apartment Therapy and Cleaning My Apartment: The Musical.

Lately I get the funniest feeling,
And the whole thing starts again.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you

--------------------------------------------

Bonus Photos From Danny The Freelancer!

Danny noticed that the CBBM mutation from yesterday resembled Ben Quadinaros, the Podracer from Star Wars and sent in this "Separated at Birth" photo comparing the two. They do look alike, but as I had to tell Danny, I had never heard of Ben Quadinaros, as I've never seen any of the Star Wars movies. A fact that amazes a lot of people!

And yesterday's post about the Empire State Building inspired Danny to write in about this King Kong statue he owns. Here's what Danny says about this prized possession: "I bought this  King Kong Statue from a junkie on the L.E.S. in the 80's. It's from the 1976 Dino De Laurentis movie. De Laurentiis had over 100 of these scowling foot and a half statues custom made for cast, crew, movie writers and critics."

"Its on a black wooden base with a brass plaque that reads: “Dino De Laurentiis Presents KING KONG.” Very cool, thanks for sending these in, Danny!

-----------------------------------

Bonus Comment Photo From Jaws!

Jaws the Cabbie sent in this photo to illustrate his comment above. Here's what he said in his email: "Here's what I'm gonna need for the things growing behind my toilet." Yikes! Note to self: Never use the bathroom at Jaws' place!

Midnight At The Empire State Building, Part II

If at first you don’t succeed, get some beer, have a Papaya dog and then try, try again! Last week I tried to go to the Empire State Building and it was closed due to fog, which I’ve never heard of and it surprised a lot of commenters as well. So I thought I’d retrun tonight at midnight tonight and try it all again.

First stop on the way there was to get a Mega-Millions ticket. It's up to over 300 million dollars! Let's hope this is the winner and I'll be taking some real trips if it is!

Deja view. Straight up Sixth Avenue, just like we did last week.

And as we cross over to Fifth Avenue, there she is. It's a clear night tonight, so there shouldn't be any problems.

And here we are, the Empire State Building on a clear night.

There's quite a few people here, considering it's kind of late.

I thought there'd be a long wait, but you get zipped through fairly quickly. Here we are boarding the elevator already.

They really jam a crowd into the elevators here. My claustrophobia has kicked in big time.

And as we approach the 86th floor, I realized one crucial mistake. I was stone-cold sober. And I have a quaking fear of heights. I was thinking so much about the possibility of it being closed again I forgot to drink to calm my nerves for this. As I realized this, I even said aloud, "Motherfucker, I forgot to drink!" The woman who's looking at me in this photo like I'm nuts, looked at me like I was even nuttier. I kind of felt like throwing up at this moment.

The Observation Deck. The moment of truth. I really thought about taking the elevator back down and going to a bar and trying to salvage this post somehow, but I knew it would be disappointing if I did. I was up here and I had to get photos and be a professional about it. Onwards and upwards...well, we're already upwards, so onwards we go.

It was a little freaky just being on the inside of the Observation Deck, but I thought maybe I could get some decent pictures without going outside. I was wrong, I kept getting reflections and they looked like shit, so it's outside I go.

Oh fuck. As soon as I got outside and snapped this photo I felt dizzy, started sweating. and kind of had a mini anxiety attack I couldn't move for a few minutes and the building felt like it was swaying. They really should have a bar up here, it's just not fair!

I decided to focus on other people taking photos so I wouldn't have to look directly down over the fenced in ledge.

Okay, I'm a little more at ease, time to get some official shots from up here.

Here's a shot I took while about a foot from the ledge, but you can see the ledge in the bottom, so I sucked it up and went all the way to the fence.

Okay, here's one shot and I'm sweating bullets up here.

And another, I'm starting to feel dizzy here.

Okay, I think you get the picture, everything's bright and shiny down there. I gotta get outta here.

Aaahhhh!

Okay, back to sweet ground level.

And it comes full circle as I see this in a souvenir store on the way home.

The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave. (Near 33rd St.)
212-736-3100

Further Reading: essortment, Great Buildings and Wired New York.

Empire State Building

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

Hi-Fi Bar Featuring EL-DJ Jukebox

There’s some great jukeboxes in bars around town and I thought I’d start featuring some of them here on TWM. I had to start at what some say is the ultimate jukebox in New York City and maybe in the entire country at The Hi-Fi Bar. They have a jukebox there that was custom made for the bar called, EL-DJ. The jukebox is the brainchild of Mike Stuto who is the owner of The Hi-Fi Bar. This monster box of tunes has nearly 50,000 songs to choose from and they were all handpicked by Stuto himself. And this gentleman knows plenty about music. Before it was The Hi-Fi Bar, Stuto owned and managed the legendary Brownies live music club in this space. Stuto booked such legendary acts as My Morning Jacket, Death Cab For Cutie, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Supergrass, Elliott Smith and Son Volt among others. In 2002, he tired of the grind of running a live music club and re-christened the space, The Hi-Fi Bar, home of EL-DJ. Let’s go take a look and put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

And we're off, it's about a fifteen minute walk to The HI-Fi Bar from my place.

And, ba-boom! Here we are. You know one thing I love about The Hi-Fi Bar?

It's about ten seconds away from Tompkins Square Bagels! I haven't had dinner yet, so let's go and get a sandwich to soak up some of the suds I'll be drinking later.

I ordered the specialty sandwich, The Chittle. What's amazing about ordering this sandwich in here is...

Sometimes the man who the sandwich is named after shows up while you're eating it! Ladies and gentlemen, Shawn! Check out Shawn's jacket, it's a genuine A-2 bomber jacket from World War II, given to Shawn from a veteran he had met.

The back is painted with illustrations from an anti-Nazi Donald Duck film produced by the Disney Studios. I had never heard of this and Shawn sent in a link to it, check it out: Der Furher's Face. Donald Duck meets Hitler...hmmm, wasn't that the pitch line they used for Hogan's Heroes?

And here's Shawn with the sandwich that's named after him.

Here's Shawn enjoying the sandwich!

Okay, back to the Hi-Fi Bar, let's head in and find the EL-DJ monster jukebox!

It's a nice dark bar in here. Here's the bar up front.

We got some beers and settled in to this marble topped table in the middle of the bar.

Owner Mike Stuto joined us for a beer at the table. He and Shawn immediately got into a discussion of music and DJing and I snuck off to check out EL-DJ.

And here it is, hovering in the darknes, the one and only, legendary EL-DJ!

After I spent about five minutes punching the screen, Mike came over and told me you have to use the trackball to navigate the machine. He told me everyone makes the same mistake on their virgin visit to EL-DJ.

The trackball is located on the lower right of the jukebox, it's kind of like operating a mouse on a computer.

Once you get a feel for the trackball, you choose an artist from the left-hand side of EL-DJ.

Then the artist pos up on the upper left of the screen. Unlike most jukeboxes, EL-DJ has full length albums of songs in its inventory. They're all from Mike's personal collection and he told me there's nearly 4,000 albums to choose from and they're constantly adding new ones. There's four Electric Prunes albums to choose from. I didn't even know they recorded four albums!

Once you choose the song, this pops up to make sure you haven't chosen the wrong one. I hit, "yes," and chose some more.

Another cool feature of the jukebox is it tells you the next four songs coming up. As you can see from this short list, there's quite a diverse selection of music to choose from on EL-DJ. I don't think I've ever seen a jukebox like this and don't ever expect to again. Okay, let's go check out the bar.

It's gotten busier and Mike's back behind the bar, pouring beer for thirsty patrons.

There's lit up bottles beneath a row of Bob Dylan album covers.

There's also album covers on the walls at Hi-Fi. Here's one by the Mekons, I got a kick out of this, because Sally Timms, who's a member of the Mekons was one of the first people I met when I moved here. There's a documentary of the band that's being worked on that I'm anxious to see!

Here's a Lucinda Williams album that I've never seen.

And here's one of my favorite albums of all time, the first release of The Flying Burrito Brothers. A great album!

There's a large back room in the bar.

Red vinyl booths line the brick wall on the left.

There's a Spiderman pinball machine for those of you who play the silver ball.

And a red pool table is the centerpiece of the back room.

And a glance out the front windows at Avenue A, and it's time to call it a night. Thanks to Shawn and Mike for joining me on this trip and we'll see you all tomorrow!

The Hi-Fi Bar
169 Avenue A (@11th St.)
212-420-8392

Further Reading: EV Grieve, Village Voice and Hostels.com.

I love rock and roll,
put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
----------------------------
Bonus Cardboard Box Man Sighting From Goggla!

Goggla spotted this Cardboard Box Man lurking on Avenue B! Aaaahhh! Be careful out there everybody!