Hope for Yesterday: The Senders Get Me A Slightly Better Job.

"You got it WRONG!" My balding, 60 year-old Jewish boss yelled at me across the office. I would call him a wall of flesh, but he would've made very lumpy, convex wall. He owned the company. We sold beepers and cell phones on 42n St. and 9th Ave. in 1994. It had a beeper with a happy face for a logo. How ironic. No one who worked there was happy.

I had made some minor mistake in the data entry. The pimp who filled out the paperwork made a 6 look like an 8. Now I was going to get abuse. This had been going on for every day for a month and I wasn't getting used to it, but I wasn't ready or able to quit.

I remembered from college that sleep deprivation really dulled my feelings. Unlike drugs/alcohol, it was free and non addictive.

And I had just seen Simon and the Bar Sinisters play at the Continental till 4am. Well, why not go out every night? I tried guessing good bands by their names. It worked. A little. But before long I had trustworthy clubs. My weekly schedule looked something like this:

Monday, sleep

Tue., The Rodeo Bar

Wed., try something new

Thu., Ludlow St. Cafe for the all night blues jam

Fri., Simon at The Continental

Sat., Continental, if no boyfriend sincere attempt to get laid by someone who doesn't say anything stupid to me

Sun., Manny's Car Wash, just b/c it was near my apt.

My going-out look early 90s. Visiting my friend Kraiger's office.

The first time I saw The Senders, it must've been Thursday, because it was at the Ludlow St. Cafe, a white basement that had homey furniture. You might have thought you were in grandma's house if the punk or blues band hadn't been playing. It could not have been Wednesday, because the band name"The Senders" sounded to me like it would be some kind of Doo Wop outfit.

Not so much. Doo Wop bands don't sing anything called, "My Baby Glows in the Dark":

Their groove was so tight and heavy, I immediately became a fan. I tried to see them every time they played. When I wasn't seeing bands or hadn't heard them for a long time, I often thought of this tune:

The Senders have a new cd with some great tunes on it, and recordings with Johnny Thunders.

My review is here. It has a radioactive glow.

Full disclosure: Not long after this, their drummer, Ned Brewster, became my new boss at a science fiction book store. I actually walked in the store and begged him for a job. Ned warned me not to work there, but I was desperate. He was right. But even after working there we still hung out at shows and talked.

About 15 years later, I called up their guitar player, Wild Bill Thompson, and we started going out. Yeah, that's pretty recent. And it's more proof the band is great. Because I can only hang at great shows. So only great musicians for me!