Outpost of Humanity: 1980

Life in the ghetto remained interesting to say the least, a little more peaceful since my roommate was no longer the neighborhood supplier, and Randy & I enjoyed a non-stop party for the duration of our tenure as roommates. Randy turned out to be quite the guy. I like to think I was as good and loyal a roomie to him as he was to me. However, I know that was not the case.

I only remember two times when we had a clash. Both were about a very serious subject: rock ‘n roll. A sane person would say both were my fault; however I still blame Randy for one of them. You be the judge. In the small house we had a new stereo in the living room. It was an upgrade from the one I moved in with due to a suspicious burglary that occurred during the tenure of my previous roomie and a generous insurance payout.

1) We were drinking and playing music one night and Randy asked if he could have the “Be Sharp” button that promoted the new Joe Jackson album of the same name. I said no. We continued; later I picked up the Joe Jackson album and found the button missing and berated him … and continued to do so to the point where he left for the night perhaps never to return. Clearly, my fault.
2) The next time it once again involved the stereo. After an evening of loud music and drinking in which we exchanged “turns” for picking the musical selections. It was time for the last “turn” and it was my pick. Randy went off to bed. I placed Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” on the turntable, volume up, and I went to bed. Well, MMM is a different sort of record. First the there is only one track and it is nothing but a series of, as the title implies, metal machine music. Musical? Perhaps; although I would agree with Randy (or any rational critic) it was difficult to listen to. The climax of the record though came at the end. Most records after the last track take the needle to center where if the automatic arm will come get it and automatically turn the stereo off. Good night. Well, MMM is true to the previous 26 minutes of noise. It has built in scratch that causes a skip and a replaying of the final sounds over and over again. In fact on the album sleeve it where the time of most songs is listed as 3:52 or 2:45. It clearly is marked with the symbol for infinity. Anyway, after an hour or so of the clanging MMM, Randy comes out of his room and goes downstairs to turn off the record player. NOOOOOO I scream coming out of my room. I’m listening to that song. Well, you get the picture. Now, whose fault was that second one? Certainly not mine I am a Lou Reed fan. Sorry Randy.

Another event that last year was the Tommy Hearns-Pipino Cuevas fight on August 2, 1980. I believe Cuevas was Mexican but that didn’t keep me from being the only Hearne fan in a group of Puerto Rican youth that I was partying with the night of the fight. Interesting night and I was a Hearns fan forever after that.

Once I made up my mind to depart the Outpost; I did not tarry. I hired an agent – a friend, Brad Haber – to manage the place and he fairly quickly obtained a tenant who agreed to pay a handsome price in monthly rent. One Friday he stopped by to pay the security deposit in cash. Later that night I saw him at the Village. Not another week went by before I saw his name in the paper … Gary Faison busted for heroin sales. Needless to say he never came by for his deposit. We found another tenant and I was a landlord for just over a year before selling the house. All in all it was quite the education living at the Outpost and I made a buck or two for the experience.

Now, if Phil thought living at Manor House was Manor House; I was about to find out what Manor House was really like – alas, I was moving back to my parents house.