Man, I just found out that one of the guys that runs the barber shop down the street got killed in a motorcycle accident. His brother did the honors last week, but he’s cut my hair as well as my son’s many times and was an extremely righteous dude…here’s to your memory, a great barber and a great person, Steve Bigelow. Peace, bro.

I guess a 27 year old guy getting cut down like that will bring perspective to the week’s other shocking news, which was the long awaited wave of firings at the Titanic of the book world, Borders Inc. They showed good judgement in sparing my remaining friends, but Joe Gable the legendary manager of the State Street store was finally shown the door. True, his attitude has sucked for decades, but he was there from the very beginning, and is as responsible for the store’s success (remember that?) as anybody. There was a rumor that the Borders brothers made his continued employment a condition of sale, but the once proud company has been sullied by several hands since then. Joe always reminded me of the titular Joseph Conrad character Nostromo (and not just because they are both Italian), who did all the work but was denied the riches. The now ubiquitous set up for the super-book store was really Joe’s idea, and he made it work. Like Nostromo Joe’s ego ultimately messed him up, and, unlike Nostromo, he never had the guts to float away with the silver barge, but it’s a historic day one way or the other when he leaves the building. Later, dude.