Yesterday I was standing in front of the Regency Hotel on Park Ave. w/
an Irish banjo in my hand (for the uninformed a short handled spade)
having just dug up the wet smelly mucky dirt that had been the potting
for two miniature evergreen trees. I was taking a short breather and
contemplating my pleasure in digging out the planter in search of
information as to the un-waterproofing situation of the sidewalk and the
vault. Working w/ my consultant friend out of Dallas who needs to keep
his hands clean. (I also found out that w/ a 3 1/2" core bit down 14"
into the sidewalk in search of waterproofing memberane that my hand is
just large enough for me to get into and pull out more mucky crap.) We
were working for Lowes, it seems. My friend had previously told me the
Regency is a famous hotel. My response was that I was under the
impression that every hotel in NY is famous. I don't recall ever working
on a hotel site that was not famous. Nor have I ever seen quite so many
security people in very expensive suits standing in such a small lobby.
And it always gives me the creeps when a doorman opens the door...
particularly when I am carrying a step ladder to the basement --- note
to self: next time wash off the stepladder before putting it on the roof
of the car. Other note to self: avoid using toilets in staff area.

So I had a parking situation to begin with and the doorman told me to
park in the taxi stand. I put an orange cone on the roof and we were
within ten-twenty feet of the car the entire time. Worked real good for
keeping the tools in order and the sidewalk neat.... very much need to
keep the sidewalk neat here. But I had not come prepared to dig out the
planter and so had to go to the Home Depot on the Upper East Side (they
have those irritating doormen who open the door) and purchase a shovel.
Knowing where the Home Depot is at is what we get paid the big bucks
for. Opening up the access hatch in the ceiling of the men's locker room
below the sidewalk and making it fairly obvious what the un-waterproof
problem was, and having the step ladder handy, is also what we get paid
for. What we don't get paid for is having too long of an electric cord
and blowing the breaker on the hotel outlet repeatedly... then again, we
are honored for having been told the afternoon before for the 1st time
that our friend from Dallas, in town for a very brief stint, would need
us on Tuesday morning. We knew that the gig was coming, just not when.
We had in our proposal that we would like to be informed in advance to
be able to visit the site prior to mobilization... no such luck.

To go to the Home Depot needs two people... so David came over from the
gig he was watching on 56th and we both went in the car to the HD... one
of us to sit in the car while the other went shopping. On returning to
the Regency our parking spot... despite the orange cones, was occupied
by a rather impressive midnight black SUV and what looked like a few
x-Marines in civvie suits. We made do with the car parking situation --
though we had included $70.00 in our budget for 'vehicle expense &
parking'. One of the guys standing next to where we were working on the
sidewalk... and mind you people kept walking through our work area and I
had to spend a good bit of time making sure they did not do anything
weird... I heard him haggling on his cell phone over purchasing tickets
to a show.

I had remarked to my consultant friend & the fellow I met from Lowes (he
had on a really nice suit that inspires me to want one just like it...
instead of my sweatshirt, workboots and brown canvas pants) that the
reaon I thought the planters outside would leak is because they look too
nice. At first they thought I was joking but then I explained that where
a landscaper (the planters being a gray granite) would understand
aesthetics they would likely not understand a waterproofing detail. It
was one of those things that made obvious sense to me the instant that I
looked at it and only required enough mucking about to get a
verification... or to prove myself an idiot. Used to be I would be an
idiot and simply keep my mouth shut. [And I had a small ordeal w/ a
dropped ceiling panel in the beauty parlor that brought back early
childhood trauma and my phobia regarding dropped ceiling panels. I
remarked on this to my friend and he bolsted my stamina... but then I
had to tell him to stop otherwise I would break down and tell him my
life story. Neither of us wanted that right then, right there in the
beauty parlor. It seemed like the kind of place you could meet Henry
Kissinger but not Telly Savalas -- whom I did meet once when he was
frothing at the mouth playing Packman at another infamous hotel... they
guy was a Packman addict. And there was the time that I recognized Steve
Martin and he turned and smiled at me this really grand smile. I like
philosopher novelists.]

Ok... so I was standing there leaning on a really brand new Irish Banjo
that had just mucked out about 10 gallons of dirt onto black plastic
when suddenly the guys from the SUV huddled at the door then went
flashing past me on the sidewalk and within about two feet of me this
fellow between them that was leaning forward slightly hunched over and
making a beeline for the midnight black SVU I realized was Anthony
Hopkins who said to one of them in passing, "That will certainly confuse
them." I was saddened that he did not recognize me.

I am not certain if I felt like the gardener in Lady Chatterly's Lover.
It was quite as memorable as the time that I talked with CheChe
Rodrigues' driver on the sidewalk outside of Sloan Kettering.

So when my consultant friend returned from whatever clandestine lunch
meeting he had attended I told him that Anthony Hopkins had walked past
me on the sidewalk. To whit my friend remarked that he had just got back
from lunch with Mario Cuomo. It seems that had sat at table across from
each other.

I later remarked to Kathy that I would have prefered to be passed on the
sidewalk by Jody Foster. She agreed with me. Life with celebrity is as
fate will have it.

][<

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