Neighborhood update

Last night at Jersey Street Liquors I saw a trumpet mouthpiece sitting on a stack of beer cases next to the counter. (My regular readers should know where this is going already.) Unthinkingly, I picked it up and asked the guy ahead of me in line if it was his. "No, that's Joe's," said the Barbadian behind the counter. "Crazy Joe's."

"Ohhh, the trumpeter! Heh heh," I replied. (DUH!) "So you could silence him if you keep that thing." So it seems he hasn't abandoned the trumpet completely.

This reminded me that I never blogged my most recent conversation with our Fenway character. It was during the second nor'easter last month (again, WTF with the cold spring storms?) when he approached me outside the aforementioned JSL and asked for 25¢ "because I need 60¢ for a beer but I don't want to ask for more than 25¢." I pulled out some change from my pocket and gave him the 60¢. Then I asked if he was the trumpeter. "Yeah, I bother everybody!" When I asked if he had switched to the harmonica, as Evan had said, he pulled it out of his jacket and started doing some pretty damn good sleight of hand with it. I introduced myself and found out his name was Joe. He wanted to continue chatting, but there was a freakin' nor'easter blowing and I wanted to get out of the rain.


In other Fenway news, R.I.P. Fenway Coffee House. :(

Accoring to one of my labmates, who spoke to the owner, it's been sold to some people who plan to do Italian food there. So now we are left with no place to get late breakfast while eavesdropping on local characters and watching passersby check out the junk shop next door. The guy also owns the adjacent pizza place, so we are all wondering why he didn't sell that place instead. Who the hell knows? It took they dude 30 minutes to serve some damn pancakes and sausage, and they hardly ever had the mango smoothies listed on the menu, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised by anything coming from him.

But it still sucks. That coffee shop was one of my favorite things about living in the West Fens. :(