I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: OMARA PORTUONDO-Tiny Desk Concert #50 (March 8, 2010).

The only thing I know about Omara Portuondo is what I’ve read in the NPR blurb about her.  She was part of the musical scene in Cuba in the 1950s–a scene full of innovators and pioneers.  And while she is certainly an elder statesperson, she still sounds great.

She sings two boleros: “Duerme Negrita” and “Dos Gardenias.”  She has a classic voice (in the vein of Ella Fitzgerald).  She really holds the final note of “Dos Gardenias” for quite a while.

The keyboards are dreamy. I know that the first song is about dreams (she seems to be cradling a baby as she sings) and the second is titled about a flower (although it doesn’t sound like she’s singing about a flower).  The songs are tender and sweet.

It really does feel like you are transported to another time.

[READ: May 7, 2015] “Peacetime”

I have never read anything by Mogelson before.  This story is an interesting one both for setting (which is unusual in itself) and for the characters.

The story is told by a guy known as Papadopoulos.  He is living in the armory on Lexington Avenue in New York City.  He was given the keys by First Sergeant Diaz.  (The story about Diaz’ limp and how he uses it to pick up women is quite funny).  He assumed it would be for a couple of weeks (his wife kicked him out), but as months have gone by, he is still there.  He sleeps in the medical supply closet.  This means that when he gets drunk at night he can hook himself up to an IV drip and never wake up hungover.

Papadopoulos was in the National Guard.  But since it is peacetime (more or less), he works as a paramedic for a hospital in Queens.  His partner, Karen, has just taken the civil service exam and is on her way to becoming a police officer.  This makes Papadopoulos nervous because he has a habit of taking a “souvenir” from every emergency visit that he goes on.  And she has been giving him the eye recently.

His souvenirs are never big or important things–a spoon or a refrigerator magnet or something like that–but he can’t stop himself.

There are two plot points in the story (well, as an emergency responder, every visit is a plot, but there are two that run through the story). The first is of a Polish woman who calls 911 every Wednesday.  There is never anything wrong with her, but every week Papadopoulos and Karen show up and do routine tests.  Karen is really annoyed at this lady’s abuse of the system, but the old lady is very nice to Papadopoulos (she gives him tea and cookies) so he is kind back.  Meanwhile, she is hostile to Karen and says bad things about her to Papadopoulos.

The other plot involves a man who overdoses or tries to kill himself or something (I don’t know enough about drugs or what Papadopoulos does to save him to know what the guy did).  That house is the one place which Papadopoulos feels that he took something too important.  Later on, when he revisits the house, the “action” of the story takes place.

I really didn’t know where the story would be going, and I enjoyed everywhere it went.  They were characters that I wouldn’t normally read about, and I found the whole premise intriguing.

Also a phrase I would like to start using is “don’t cut my leathers” which a biker said to Papadopoulos after an accident and which they all use it in virtually any scenario to mean something like don’t bust my chops.   I think it’s an all-purpose vague retort and would be useful quite often.