Money From Air

So the other day I spent most of the day in Queens helping my good friend N. take boxes to the post office, and keep him company while he packed up the rest of his apt. since he's off to the beautiful city of San Francisco. I was outside the post office standing guard while the boxes were being into an ever growing pile on the sidewalk. (79 TOTAL!!! - although some of them were kinda small - the size of the CD boxes we used to keep the Now Playing stock under the counter at Red Cat.)

As I was waiting there this old guy walked by, paused for a second to look over the pile of boxes and then as he caught my eye, to be polite, I smiled and asked how he was doing. He smiled, and asked me what all the boxes were for. I told him that we (N. and I) were moving to San Francisco, which was a small lie, but seemed faster than explaining that N. was moving to San Francisco to live with his girl, and they were taking turns finishing school.

He asked why we were moving, with the "Why the Hell Would Anyone Leave?" attitude that most lifelong New Yorkers have, and told me that it was dangerous and I should watch out for earthquakes. He then told me he was from Czechoslovakia and that when he was young, and in the Armed Forces he had been stationed in Pasadena for awhile, but couldn't find a way to make a living out there after his tour was done. After a couple of years of scraping by, he moved to Queens and somehow got involved in the music publishing business, without actually knowing a single thing about it. He soon opened up his own business and the ASCAP money started rolling in. At some point he started making Muzak of pop music and then selling it to companies in Czechoslovakia , and Hungary, and a lot of other countries that were under the communist regime. Apparently he made good money. But it gets better.

Again he told me I shouldn't leave - because things only happen like that in New York City, and in New York "You can get money from the air" and told me another story of how sitting down to breakfast with a friend he regularly did business with, and ended up meeting and shaking hands a bigwig from Sesame Street. As they were talking, they started wondering if there was a market in Czech. for Sesame Street, but at the time Czechoslovakia was still a Communist country, and of course, wasn't open to showing very young children American TV.

My new friend waited patiently, and after the regime fell he picked up the phone again, and through various connections ended up successfully bringing Sesame Street to many of the formely Communist countries all because he happened to sit down to breakfast with friend, and happened to meet Mr. Sesame Street. All he claims he had to do was sign papers and it was a huge hit. I guess thats what bringing Western Television to newly democratic countries is good business, since he now owns 3 different properties in Queens, one in Manhattan, and an estate in upstate New York, which I guess is pretty good for making money from air.

So I know it's a long story, but it does seem like these kinds of things happen easier in this city. I guess it's easier to meet the people with power, or money, or that are in a position to help you out, especially if they also have something to gain from the situation. I don't know. I just keep in mind that it is possible to make money from air in this city. Because right now, that's all I'm trying to do.