I’m sitting here in my office listening to Blood on the Tracks and, for some reason, I started counting friends. Not acquaintances. Not guys I like. I mean friends. And by a friend I mean someone I meet after no matter how long and the conversation picks up naturally, no awkwardness, no hesitation, no submerged bitterness. I mean someone who is loyal to me without question and someone I pledge my loyalty to.
How many of those do you have?
I have six.
Is that the normal amount, a lot or a little? Do women have the same number of friends? Please tell me.
Note to streetglide: You mentioned Elmore Leonard and I went and grabbed Get Shorty from my bookshelf. Thanks for the tip. Here’s an observation. When you wrote in as Blind Tom you used to get sore at me, especially if I was tough on the Niners. As streetglide you are kinder, more patient and understanding even when I write rubbish. Why is that?
Dr Nick
I have 5.
6 if I count my better half.
August 27th, 2012 3:53 pm
CohnZohn
Dr. Nick, I didn’t count family. They go without saying.
August 27th, 2012 4:04 pm
Stan
2,but I KNOW thousands more want be my friend.
August 27th, 2012 4:15 pm
Dennis
I have 5 also.
I can only listen to music when I am driving or when I am just listening to music. I can’t listen to music when I am trying to do something that requires me to think. I get easily distracted.
Interesting comment to streetglide. Maybe I should change my name, and hopefully gain some patience. I mean no harm.
August 27th, 2012 4:30 pm
CohnZohn
Dennis, that was very kind of you. Thanks.
August 27th, 2012 4:49 pm
Kommon Senze
I have around 5 as well. There are a few friends who I have literally not seen in many, many moons, so I would like to think we could still just hit it off, I’m not sure (it’s been that long). If I count them, maybe the number gets to around 8-9.
BTW – I also really enjoy Leonard. I recently read Maximum Bob, which was ok (not amongst his best work, but maybe a little darker and dingier, which made it interesting). His compendium of Western short-stories, which included “3:10 to Yuma” is excellent.
And, as long as we’re making literary suggestions, another seasoned writer who continues to put out good work is Cormac McCarthy. He’s not as prolific as Leonard, but no less skilled as a story teller.
August 27th, 2012 5:11 pm
gary
Two.
Extremely special
August 27th, 2012 5:40 pm
Streetglide
One of those many mysteries of the Orient old bean. I guess Harley riders are nicer than blues players, something like that… -L-
.
Oops, I forgot; there, that’s better. then again, maybe you have mellowed over the past year as well. After all, we’re all getting on…
August 27th, 2012 7:44 pm
Streetglide
Friends. Yeah, I have about six or seven. Bill over in Tokyo, great British lad. His wife is fantastically successful as a singer and talent company president. She’s from Perth. Dave up in Willits although he’s sore at me cause I called him on his new consumer life but he’ll come around. Bear. Say a prayer for Bear.
.
Dave in Frisco (I LOVE using that word, a complete 180 from my days in the City, really gets up the yuppies’ collective nose). Harry back in Ohio. He’s a judge. My old bass player Peter — a real southern Eye-talian from the Bronx, not the northern version out here. Great big guy shouts everything, badda-bing badda-boom. Candace down in Fairfax. Yoko in Tokyo. That’s about it.
.
“Tishomingo Blues.” Have you read that? Elmore is the greatest American novelist since Mark Twain hands down…
August 27th, 2012 7:55 pm
lameduck
Embarssingly enough, I may be down to zero.
Six is your number and if it feels right, it must be.
August 27th, 2012 8:15 pm
lameduck
On the brighter side, Rockies 10 Dodgers 0. Losing pitcher Beckett.
Adrian Gonsalez 0-3…
August 27th, 2012 9:43 pm
parnell
I suspect that I’m older than most of the others here and I’m lucky enough to have ten close friends, some of whom I’ve known for nearly 50 years. One of my newer friends (circa 2004) is truly unique, a woman who loves 19th century literature and football.
August 27th, 2012 11:22 pm
Eric Janssen
” As streetglide you are kinder, more patient and understanding even when I write rubbish. Why is that?”
Mr Cohn-
Anybody who mentions Dylan, Streetglides and Elmore Leonard And admits to sometimes writing rubbish is a fine example of a human being in my book.
As far as the friend thing goes, I’m a semi-retired mtn. climber- I’m down to two. I had 6, pushing 8. Two’s OK.
Now if you slipped Hunter S in there you’d be bat’n 1000..
August 28th, 2012 6:30 am
CohnZohn
parnell, Where is wcbookseller? Do you work there? And what 19th Century literature does your friend like?
August 28th, 2012 9:03 am
Brady
I guess I have five friends. I could make cases for a few more, but having just graduated college it’s harder to judge who is actually going to be a lifelong friend. But for now I have five, and maybe one or two from college will truly emerge.
Not counting family, of course.
August 28th, 2012 9:44 am
Steve
I have 5 – none local. One I have known since the day he was born (I’m 63 and he’s 2 months younger). Even though we’re completely different, we call ourselves twin sons of different parents. That instantaneous reconnection with close friends never fails to amaze me. With a degree in American Lit, Mark Twain has always been my literary hero. Since no one has mentioned Sinclair Lewis, I will. He wrote three of the greatest, groundbreaking American novels: Main Street, Babbitt, and Elmer Gantry. Throw Hunter Thompson and H.L. Mencken into the mix. Hemingway never did anything for me either. More recent writers that appeal to me are: Edward Abbey (especially his non-fiction), Pete Dexter and Bruce Anderson (editor and publisher of the Anderson Valley Advertiser, the only newspaper worth reading cover-to-cover). My former neighbor, Mary Roach, writes about interesting subjects in an entertaining fashion.
August 28th, 2012 10:26 am
Eric Janssen
Steve- Does,did Mary Roach live in Kenwood? And I’ll check out Anderson Valley Advertiser-thanks.
August 28th, 2012 11:51 am
KauaiRobert
Zero.
.
.
.
*ALOHA*
August 28th, 2012 12:14 pm
Steve
Eric,
Possibly, but not that I know of. She lived in SF Bernal Heights when she was my neighbor. I believe she now lives in Oakland. Check out Bruce Anderson’s books about Mendocino County. Even if you have no attachment to Mendo (I do), you’ll find the info intriguing and the writing superb.
August 28th, 2012 1:29 pm
Phil Brown
Six is a lot. I’ve got 4 including my girlfriend.
My girlfriend is the new comer. I’ve got one from grade school and the other 2 for about 45 years.
Guess I haven’t made a lot of new friends.
August 28th, 2012 2:29 pm
Phil Brown
Oh, like Blood On The Tracks? I mastered it originally lo those many years ago.
August 28th, 2012 2:30 pm
Eric Janssen
Steve-
Will do, thanks. And thanks L.C. for the platform.
August 29th, 2012 6:29 am
Streetglide
“Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg,
Fort Braqg USA,
Here’s where I belong,
And here’ where I’ll stay…”
I bet I’m the only one here — maybe on the whole PD — that remembers that one…
August 29th, 2012 7:09 am
Streetglide
Yeah, too late I see my lysdexia has turned a “g” into a “q” yet again; story of my life…
August 29th, 2012 7:11 am