Something I forgot to mention about my Duluth experience was the fact that one of the clamps on my city water connection apparently got messed up a little while ago and had expunged enough water into the under carriage of the trailer that it leaked through and soaked part of my carpet from underneath. I drained the fresh water supply in case that's where the leak was and also had to cut a slit in this undercarriage bag-type thing that had filled up with water to let it drain out.
Not cool. I was able to determine with some help from Justin that it was in fact just a clamp and nothing more serious than that. Regardless, it needed repaired ASAP unless I wanted to just live off my fresh water tank and pump. Luckily, Pittsburgh was more or less on the way to Glens Falls and we had planned on stopping in town for a couple days before heading there anyway.
We drove straight through from Duluth to Pittsburgh and I dropped the rig off at the RV Dealer at about 2am, packed some things into the truck, and headed home.
The usual suspects made themselves available during my visit. I was finally able to frequent my favorite restaurant, La Filipiniana in Lawrenceville. Cleo and I sat in the outside garden and played catch up and as always, a stop at Your Inner Vagabond for a double Turkish Coffee was in order.
I met up with Sproul and Aaron at Brillobox later on that night for drinks. I had been trying to meet up with my friend Laurie from college who I hadn't seen since like 2000. It hadn't been working out as planned but I happened to look up at one point and she and a friend had walked through the door for "one last drink". We were able to catch up for a while, get sloppy, and hit up Ritters Diner after the bar kicked us all out.
Low key night at Gooski's with Sproulman the next night which allowed for catching up without distractions.
I picked up the RV at the dealer the next morning and they confirmed that it was just a clamp. Probably could have repaired it myself but I did get a free RV wash out of it. What I didn't get however was the undercarriage repair I had asked for (currently held together by a bunch of C Clamps). Once again, not all that impressed with Valero's RV. Another issue is that fact that my trailer registration still hasn't shown up...but that's another story.
All and all a successful Pittsburgh visit.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Playing Catch Up: Duluth, Georgia
Ok so I've been really awful about keeping this thing current and have been sufficiently scolded for my shortcomings. This is my attempt at redemption.
We have Duluth, GA, Pittsburgh, PA, Glens Falls, NY, and Portland, ME to catch up on.
DULUTH, GA
After a rather enjoyable (to say the least....) final night in Bowling Green, Steve and I were up early to shove off for Duluth, GA. My one regret was not exploring the river and rock formations tucked away in the wood of the campground. Oh well, a rock's a rock when you're looking at someone else's pictures, right?
Ollie took me up on my offer of a ride to Duluth which helped the drive go by much quicker. We covered a broad range of conversational whatnots and bounced our backgrounds and philosophical hubub back and forth for a while.
At one point Steve totally left me hanging as he exited for fuel an hour and a half outside of Duluth (Duluth is about 20 mins outside of downtown Atlanta). Ollie and I got off at the next stop to get fuel and wait for Steve. I learned yet again that conversation and driving can yield retrospectively amusing results. Case in point, we exited and pulled up to the off ramp intersection to make a left hand turn. I checked both ways and proceeded out into the intersection.
At first, I was a bit perplexed by the look on Ollie's face until he said "Uh, you know you just went through a red light, right?". Oops.
Anyway, whatever. We managed to time our drive perfectly so that we would be right outside Atlanta in the midsts of their horrific Rush Hour. Brilliant. Atlanta on-ramps (which occur every freaking half mile it seemed) are two lanes. There is a traffic light for each lane that alternates between yellow and red at 2 second intervals. I suppose so every one takes there turn and "merges politely".
The arena we played at in Duluth brand spanking new and part of this ginormous freaking complex. It was nearly a mile of winding roads and parking lots from the entrance to behind the arena. Parking was a bit tight but tolerable.
I can't remember if we opened on a Thursday or a Friday. Whatever day it was, Nicole Feld (the show's Producer), visited along with the VP of Circus Operations to see how things were going.
It was a packed house and the band freaking rocked it. I'm pretty confident my job is safe for the time being.
One highlight of Duluth was meeting up with my friend Jen from high school. We were marching band dorks together and hadn't really kept in touch in the 10 years since high school. The management threw the show a BBQ party Saturday night to say 'thanks' for being patient when we were running away from Gustav post Biloxi and then had to go back to Jackson from Memphis for the shows. It was a swell time.
There was this extra trailer on the lot which belonged to these dudes from a 'drumming circus' or something....I never got the whole story. They looked like a cross between Dragon Ball Z characters and Rufio from Hook.
+
Jen represented appropriately the next day at the show sporting a Steelers Jersey.
That night I met up an awesome songwriter, Measly, for my last night in town. We sampled each other's music and once again Chalk Outline Party got a legit and sincere two thumbs up. Her friend was seeing some dude who just moved there from Pittsburgh. As I found out, he also has a thing about constantly talking up Pittsburgh....so it's not just me.
After a fun night, I was more or less a Zombie the next morning for our 10:30am......yeah.....10:30AM Monday morning show. WTF? Anyway, we got through it and packed up for our 1000 mile + jaunt to Glens Falls, NY which any good child of the 80s would know as the hometown of Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Hoooooooooooooooooooo!
We have Duluth, GA, Pittsburgh, PA, Glens Falls, NY, and Portland, ME to catch up on.
DULUTH, GA
After a rather enjoyable (to say the least....) final night in Bowling Green, Steve and I were up early to shove off for Duluth, GA. My one regret was not exploring the river and rock formations tucked away in the wood of the campground. Oh well, a rock's a rock when you're looking at someone else's pictures, right?
Ollie took me up on my offer of a ride to Duluth which helped the drive go by much quicker. We covered a broad range of conversational whatnots and bounced our backgrounds and philosophical hubub back and forth for a while.
At one point Steve totally left me hanging as he exited for fuel an hour and a half outside of Duluth (Duluth is about 20 mins outside of downtown Atlanta). Ollie and I got off at the next stop to get fuel and wait for Steve. I learned yet again that conversation and driving can yield retrospectively amusing results. Case in point, we exited and pulled up to the off ramp intersection to make a left hand turn. I checked both ways and proceeded out into the intersection.
At first, I was a bit perplexed by the look on Ollie's face until he said "Uh, you know you just went through a red light, right?". Oops.
Anyway, whatever. We managed to time our drive perfectly so that we would be right outside Atlanta in the midsts of their horrific Rush Hour. Brilliant. Atlanta on-ramps (which occur every freaking half mile it seemed) are two lanes. There is a traffic light for each lane that alternates between yellow and red at 2 second intervals. I suppose so every one takes there turn and "merges politely".
The arena we played at in Duluth brand spanking new and part of this ginormous freaking complex. It was nearly a mile of winding roads and parking lots from the entrance to behind the arena. Parking was a bit tight but tolerable.
I can't remember if we opened on a Thursday or a Friday. Whatever day it was, Nicole Feld (the show's Producer), visited along with the VP of Circus Operations to see how things were going.
It was a packed house and the band freaking rocked it. I'm pretty confident my job is safe for the time being.
One highlight of Duluth was meeting up with my friend Jen from high school. We were marching band dorks together and hadn't really kept in touch in the 10 years since high school. The management threw the show a BBQ party Saturday night to say 'thanks' for being patient when we were running away from Gustav post Biloxi and then had to go back to Jackson from Memphis for the shows. It was a swell time.
There was this extra trailer on the lot which belonged to these dudes from a 'drumming circus' or something....I never got the whole story. They looked like a cross between Dragon Ball Z characters and Rufio from Hook.
Jen represented appropriately the next day at the show sporting a Steelers Jersey.
That night I met up an awesome songwriter, Measly, for my last night in town. We sampled each other's music and once again Chalk Outline Party got a legit and sincere two thumbs up. Her friend was seeing some dude who just moved there from Pittsburgh. As I found out, he also has a thing about constantly talking up Pittsburgh....so it's not just me.
After a fun night, I was more or less a Zombie the next morning for our 10:30am......yeah.....10:30AM Monday morning show. WTF? Anyway, we got through it and packed up for our 1000 mile + jaunt to Glens Falls, NY which any good child of the 80s would know as the hometown of Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Hoooooooooooooooooooo!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Punch Party!
Punch Party? Punch Party.
Yet another night that makes me realize joining this tour was a good decision.
These people rock.
So after several foiled attempts at actually having the punch party, I was skeptical that it was actually going to come off last night.
It did and exceeded any expectation I may have had.
I learned rather quickly how ridiculous it was for me to feel that maybe I was going overboard with my Purple Rain punch and Prince costume. These punches/costumes/concepts were true works of art, haha.
Bringing the guitar along was a good call.
Once I get a chance to edit down the remaining videos they will most definitely be posted. Best jam session ever, haha.
PUNCH PARTY Pics and Vids
Yet another night that makes me realize joining this tour was a good decision.
These people rock.
So after several foiled attempts at actually having the punch party, I was skeptical that it was actually going to come off last night.
It did and exceeded any expectation I may have had.
I learned rather quickly how ridiculous it was for me to feel that maybe I was going overboard with my Purple Rain punch and Prince costume. These punches/costumes/concepts were true works of art, haha.
Bringing the guitar along was a good call.
Once I get a chance to edit down the remaining videos they will most definitely be posted. Best jam session ever, haha.
PUNCH PARTY Pics and Vids
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Backtracking to Memphis
So tonight is the big Punch Party; a Gold Unit tradition five years running.
The basic premise is this: The band "hosts" the party which just means we set the date/time/location, nominate and elect the 5 judges, and decorate.
Then, anyone who wants to enter a punch (alcoholic of course) to be judged signs up. The categories are: Best Taste, Worst Taste, Most Alcoholic, Best Presentation, and Best Overall.
There are some on this show ::cough cough keyboardplayers cough cough:: that take this event very seriously and try to pull out all the stops.
I'm trying to cover the fact that I've never made a punch before by going all out with presentation (not necessarily of the punch itself).
Anyway.....while the punch is chilling in the fridge, I'll write about Memphis since I never got around to it.
After narrowly (like seriously.....nar-row-ly) escaping the wrath of Gustav, we made it to Memphis.
I learned 3 things during my stay:
1. There are more annoying beggars in that city than anywhere else I've ever been.
2. Beale Street is comparable to Bourbon St insomuch that it's a tourist trap that all of the locals avoid.
3. Circus people know how to celebrate a birthday.
The major event of the stay was going out for Jeff's birthday with about 20 show people.
Our first stop was B.B. King's. Unfortunately, it ended up being just as bad as I had imagined (minus the awesome company mind you). $5 cover (whatever no big deal) but the lady at the register gave me my change and held back a dollar, held it up and asked "for me? for me? for me? for me?". Ummmm...what? It was obvious she was going to stand there with my dollar until I gave her permission to drop it in her tip jar. Yeah, a tip jar for the woman collecting the cover at the door.
I ordered a double Jack and Coke and learned too late that I had made a mistake. I'm used to the Pittsburgh version where a double Jack and Coke is twice as strong and don't cost no doggone $14.00. Lame.
The band was pretty good. I had foolishly mentioned to Justin that if I could hold my own playing the blues that I would like to sit in (keep in mind this was not an open session). No sooner had I mentioned this then Justin said "Ok well you're playing tonight."
"Uh no, I really don't want to sit in"
"Yes you're sitting in. I'll be right back"
The band was on break so he was off talking to all of them trying to convince them to let me come sit in. Seriously, I had no desire to sit in with a bunch of real blues musicians and make everyone including myself uncomfortable. But he wouldn't let it go. Asking over and over, talking to every single band member.
A couple other show people caught wind of what was happening and joined in trying to get me to play. I'm all for sitting in places where I'm comfortable. This was NOT one of those places. When the band took the stage for the next set Justin told me "OK it took a lot of convincing but they are probably going to call you down to play".
Great.
So, I left and went across the street. When I came back out our whole crew had decided to move to another bar. Phew. Crisis averted.
We ended up at Coyote Ugly. Yeehaw.
We were the only ones in the bar and there was only one bartender.
It ended up being a great time though with the crew we had out. We had drunk Ollie (hi-laaar-ious) providing commentary to the show on the TV. It was that dude that travels around the world and eats disgusting local food. T'was MST3K worthy.
There was one of those punching bag arcade games where you (obviously) punch it and it gives you a score of manliness or something. Things were going fine until Robbie stepped up to the plate. He wound up, charged forward, and completely whiffed nearly falling to the ground. To his credit he did hit it on the second try and scored....well....it registered anyway.
Eventually a Russian dance party ensued which I was able to take a quick video of before the bouncer came over and gruffly informed me of their 'no video' policy.
The acrobats of course eventually started stacking on each other and the ICG's ended up posing in the bathtub thing.
Donnie scored big outside the bar. Some drunken bum and his trashy buddy approached him with a plastic bag and said:
"Doan even say nuttin' til you see what's in this bag"
Uh, what?
Turns out to be a pair of shoes.
"These are $200 shoes man, how much you give me? How much you give me?"
Donnie made an offer of $5.
"$5?!?! These are $200 shoes...blahblahbalhblah"
"$5"
::dramatic pause:: "Damn. Ok man gimmie the five bucks"
"Oh, I only I have $4 actually"
It's worth at least $20 to have the opportunity to pay $4 for a pair of shoes a dirty bum is selling out of a bag in Memphis
After closing out CU, we meandered down the street and found a bar open until 3. I bailed and went home but a couple people kept the party going.
I didn't experience the aftermath first hand, but apparently Jeff had quite an adventure later that night involving a lack of clothing, losing balance, an open trailer door, a set of trailer stairs, and the pavement.
Total Rockstar birthday.
So that was Memphis. I went to the Rock and Soul museum which was OK and I got satisfy my need to visit Wolf River Harbor and be a good Jeff Buckley fan.
It was a bit morbid but rather funny with my GPS announced "Arriving at Jeff Buckley on right" since that's what I named the location. Good stuff.
It is freaking pouring here in Bloomington. But it feels sooooo good to be back in the North with cooler temperatures. I don't know if it's just the air or maybe the trees but you can just tell when you're back in the North. Feels good.
Bloomington report coming including what I'll be able to remember of the Punch Party.
j
The basic premise is this: The band "hosts" the party which just means we set the date/time/location, nominate and elect the 5 judges, and decorate.
Then, anyone who wants to enter a punch (alcoholic of course) to be judged signs up. The categories are: Best Taste, Worst Taste, Most Alcoholic, Best Presentation, and Best Overall.
There are some on this show ::cough cough keyboardplayers cough cough:: that take this event very seriously and try to pull out all the stops.
I'm trying to cover the fact that I've never made a punch before by going all out with presentation (not necessarily of the punch itself).
Anyway.....while the punch is chilling in the fridge, I'll write about Memphis since I never got around to it.
After narrowly (like seriously.....nar-row-ly) escaping the wrath of Gustav, we made it to Memphis.
I learned 3 things during my stay:
1. There are more annoying beggars in that city than anywhere else I've ever been.
2. Beale Street is comparable to Bourbon St insomuch that it's a tourist trap that all of the locals avoid.
3. Circus people know how to celebrate a birthday.
The major event of the stay was going out for Jeff's birthday with about 20 show people.
Our first stop was B.B. King's. Unfortunately, it ended up being just as bad as I had imagined (minus the awesome company mind you). $5 cover (whatever no big deal) but the lady at the register gave me my change and held back a dollar, held it up and asked "for me? for me? for me? for me?". Ummmm...what? It was obvious she was going to stand there with my dollar until I gave her permission to drop it in her tip jar. Yeah, a tip jar for the woman collecting the cover at the door.
I ordered a double Jack and Coke and learned too late that I had made a mistake. I'm used to the Pittsburgh version where a double Jack and Coke is twice as strong and don't cost no doggone $14.00. Lame.
The band was pretty good. I had foolishly mentioned to Justin that if I could hold my own playing the blues that I would like to sit in (keep in mind this was not an open session). No sooner had I mentioned this then Justin said "Ok well you're playing tonight."
"Uh no, I really don't want to sit in"
"Yes you're sitting in. I'll be right back"
The band was on break so he was off talking to all of them trying to convince them to let me come sit in. Seriously, I had no desire to sit in with a bunch of real blues musicians and make everyone including myself uncomfortable. But he wouldn't let it go. Asking over and over, talking to every single band member.
A couple other show people caught wind of what was happening and joined in trying to get me to play. I'm all for sitting in places where I'm comfortable. This was NOT one of those places. When the band took the stage for the next set Justin told me "OK it took a lot of convincing but they are probably going to call you down to play".
Great.
So, I left and went across the street. When I came back out our whole crew had decided to move to another bar. Phew. Crisis averted.
We ended up at Coyote Ugly. Yeehaw.
We were the only ones in the bar and there was only one bartender.
It ended up being a great time though with the crew we had out. We had drunk Ollie (hi-laaar-ious) providing commentary to the show on the TV. It was that dude that travels around the world and eats disgusting local food. T'was MST3K worthy.
There was one of those punching bag arcade games where you (obviously) punch it and it gives you a score of manliness or something. Things were going fine until Robbie stepped up to the plate. He wound up, charged forward, and completely whiffed nearly falling to the ground. To his credit he did hit it on the second try and scored....well....it registered anyway.
Eventually a Russian dance party ensued which I was able to take a quick video of before the bouncer came over and gruffly informed me of their 'no video' policy.
The acrobats of course eventually started stacking on each other and the ICG's ended up posing in the bathtub thing.
Donnie scored big outside the bar. Some drunken bum and his trashy buddy approached him with a plastic bag and said:
"Doan even say nuttin' til you see what's in this bag"
Uh, what?
Turns out to be a pair of shoes.
"These are $200 shoes man, how much you give me? How much you give me?"
Donnie made an offer of $5.
"$5?!?! These are $200 shoes...blahblahbalhblah"
"$5"
::dramatic pause:: "Damn. Ok man gimmie the five bucks"
"Oh, I only I have $4 actually"
It's worth at least $20 to have the opportunity to pay $4 for a pair of shoes a dirty bum is selling out of a bag in Memphis
After closing out CU, we meandered down the street and found a bar open until 3. I bailed and went home but a couple people kept the party going.
I didn't experience the aftermath first hand, but apparently Jeff had quite an adventure later that night involving a lack of clothing, losing balance, an open trailer door, a set of trailer stairs, and the pavement.
Total Rockstar birthday.
So that was Memphis. I went to the Rock and Soul museum which was OK and I got satisfy my need to visit Wolf River Harbor and be a good Jeff Buckley fan.
It was a bit morbid but rather funny with my GPS announced "Arriving at Jeff Buckley on right" since that's what I named the location. Good stuff.
It is freaking pouring here in Bloomington. But it feels sooooo good to be back in the North with cooler temperatures. I don't know if it's just the air or maybe the trees but you can just tell when you're back in the North. Feels good.
Bloomington report coming including what I'll be able to remember of the Punch Party.
j
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Southern man don't need me around anyhow? Thank Jeebus.
So I know I haven't properly written about Memphis yet but this....interesting night out in Jackson freaking Mississippi is still fresh in my mind so it wins. Memphis was more 'fun camaraderie' type stuff so it can wait in lieu of bass ackwards Southern duh-hyuck-derp-ness.
Well I guess it didn't start that way. The crowds here have been just great. Near capacity crowds every night and super responsive. No complaints there.
But tonight Brian and I decided we needed to experience the Jackson first hand. We started at this Irish Pub called Fenians which was actually quite good. Nothing really to report there. We probably should have stayed put.
We moved on to the "main drag" which is hidden back in a bunch of awkward one-way streets and shady industrial buildings. We were going to try the "Fire Club" in spite of the musical equivalent of a diarrhea tsunami pouring out through the doors into the night. We had snatched our ID's back from the doorman before he had even finished saying "$15 Cover". This is the same Cletus looking deliverance extra John Deer Stockholder that gave me this nugget advice the previous night when I asked what else there was to do in Jackson:
"Well....'round the corner dere's our sister club..........::lowers voice ominously:: but a lot of blacks go in there. It's more of a black club. ::hint hint wink wink knowwhattimean knowwhattimean::"
Riiiiiiight. I keep forgetting we are in the heart of active KKK territory.
Anyway, we jumped across the street to 'Hal and Mal's' where there was an aging guitarist with a band trying to pull off a crappy imitation of John Scofield. It would've been almost tolerable until they broke into a "version" of 'Purple Haze". Apparently to cover that song you don't really need to know any of the words. Just say 'Purple Haze' at the beginning of a few mumbled phrases and cap it off with a " S'cuse me while I kiss this guy" and you're golden.
Next.....
Martin's..... After much coaxing from the doorman how this was the hippest spot in town and how they had this amaaaaaazing funk band with tonnnnns of people inside, we coughed up the $7 cover and headed in.
Gah. It was like combining Gooskis, Belvedere's, and Dee's minus everything cool about those spots, mixed with a giant pile of elephant dung and some tiger piss. That was Martin's.
A good way to judge that a funk band is going to be atrocious: more than half of the band are skinny white dudes with long hair wearing reeedonnkulous sunglasses. Add a drunk ass hippie dufus behind the mixing board twiddling knobs at random like he's playing some modular synth, factor in the fact that he is oblivious to the fact that he's blaring all mid range frequency that would be considered unbearably loud in a room twice as big, and top it off with the drummer wearing those stupid shades, a retarded white boy gangsta cabbie hat and using nothing but shoulders to play with and sporting the "I'm such a bad ass" puckered lip face and you'll maybe almost empathize with the pain we were experiencing. These fools were in dire need of a headbutt apiece.
We headed back out to the dark dingy (but non-aurally painful) part of the bar. Some drunk ass rail thin hippie who looked like a cross between the singer form System of a Down and Weird Al from the 'Amish Paradise' video leaned back on the rain and almost fell onto our table. Brian said something like "wow that dude almost fell on us" which is apparently considered a severely offensive statement in 'drunk ass hick hippie-ese'. The dude struggled to turn around and then kinda sorta almost flipped us off. After some mumbling and hand gestures we determined he was demanding to know how we thought the rest of the football season would pan put if we were so smart.
At some point we had convinced him we were Canadian which brought on this onslaught: "Fucking Cannucks....Fuck Canada!!" ::mumble mumble:: ::stumble stumble::. This whole scene went on for aboot ten minutes with us laughing our asses off and playing along.
We tried to go listen to the band one last time and were treated to something that aimed for Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" territory,but failed miserably. Instead of a guitar quoting "Jamie's Crying" they broke into kindasorta part of the riff from "Iron Man" with the one dude rapping worse than Snow over top of it. The other guys in the band did the arms crossed, puckered lip, head nod thing almost in time like they were part of the anti-drug troupe that came to your Junior High Schools and rapped about how cool it was to not smoke, drink, or do drugs.
There were a few cute girls there but after all of that we just had to leave.
Now I know not everyone is like this in the South.....just the people I encountered.
If I ever ever hear any of you Pittsburgh people complain about anything in that city, you'll have a headbutt waiting for you upon my return.
Good Grief.
Well I guess it didn't start that way. The crowds here have been just great. Near capacity crowds every night and super responsive. No complaints there.
But tonight Brian and I decided we needed to experience the Jackson first hand. We started at this Irish Pub called Fenians which was actually quite good. Nothing really to report there. We probably should have stayed put.
We moved on to the "main drag" which is hidden back in a bunch of awkward one-way streets and shady industrial buildings. We were going to try the "Fire Club" in spite of the musical equivalent of a diarrhea tsunami pouring out through the doors into the night. We had snatched our ID's back from the doorman before he had even finished saying "$15 Cover". This is the same Cletus looking deliverance extra John Deer Stockholder that gave me this nugget advice the previous night when I asked what else there was to do in Jackson:
"Well....'round the corner dere's our sister club..........::lowers voice ominously:: but a lot of blacks go in there. It's more of a black club. ::hint hint wink wink knowwhattimean knowwhattimean::"
Riiiiiiight. I keep forgetting we are in the heart of active KKK territory.
Anyway, we jumped across the street to 'Hal and Mal's' where there was an aging guitarist with a band trying to pull off a crappy imitation of John Scofield. It would've been almost tolerable until they broke into a "version" of 'Purple Haze". Apparently to cover that song you don't really need to know any of the words. Just say 'Purple Haze' at the beginning of a few mumbled phrases and cap it off with a " S'cuse me while I kiss this guy" and you're golden.
Next.....
Martin's..... After much coaxing from the doorman how this was the hippest spot in town and how they had this amaaaaaazing funk band with tonnnnns of people inside, we coughed up the $7 cover and headed in.
Gah. It was like combining Gooskis, Belvedere's, and Dee's minus everything cool about those spots, mixed with a giant pile of elephant dung and some tiger piss. That was Martin's.
A good way to judge that a funk band is going to be atrocious: more than half of the band are skinny white dudes with long hair wearing reeedonnkulous sunglasses. Add a drunk ass hippie dufus behind the mixing board twiddling knobs at random like he's playing some modular synth, factor in the fact that he is oblivious to the fact that he's blaring all mid range frequency that would be considered unbearably loud in a room twice as big, and top it off with the drummer wearing those stupid shades, a retarded white boy gangsta cabbie hat and using nothing but shoulders to play with and sporting the "I'm such a bad ass" puckered lip face and you'll maybe almost empathize with the pain we were experiencing. These fools were in dire need of a headbutt apiece.
We headed back out to the dark dingy (but non-aurally painful) part of the bar. Some drunk ass rail thin hippie who looked like a cross between the singer form System of a Down and Weird Al from the 'Amish Paradise' video leaned back on the rain and almost fell onto our table. Brian said something like "wow that dude almost fell on us" which is apparently considered a severely offensive statement in 'drunk ass hick hippie-ese'. The dude struggled to turn around and then kinda sorta almost flipped us off. After some mumbling and hand gestures we determined he was demanding to know how we thought the rest of the football season would pan put if we were so smart.
At some point we had convinced him we were Canadian which brought on this onslaught: "Fucking Cannucks....Fuck Canada!!" ::mumble mumble:: ::stumble stumble::. This whole scene went on for aboot ten minutes with us laughing our asses off and playing along.
We tried to go listen to the band one last time and were treated to something that aimed for Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" territory,but failed miserably. Instead of a guitar quoting "Jamie's Crying" they broke into kindasorta part of the riff from "Iron Man" with the one dude rapping worse than Snow over top of it. The other guys in the band did the arms crossed, puckered lip, head nod thing almost in time like they were part of the anti-drug troupe that came to your Junior High Schools and rapped about how cool it was to not smoke, drink, or do drugs.
There were a few cute girls there but after all of that we just had to leave.
Now I know not everyone is like this in the South.....just the people I encountered.
If I ever ever hear any of you Pittsburgh people complain about anything in that city, you'll have a headbutt waiting for you upon my return.
Good Grief.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Barbershop Raga
So within the last 14hrs I've:
- left Pittsburgh
- arrived in Gulfport, MS mere hours before the airport was shut down to prep for Gustav
- rescued my trailer (thankfully the arena lot wasn't locked shut so we got in
- found diesel fuel on the third try (lots of places where out of everything)
- hit the road
- arrived in Memphis
- parked
- plugged in
- had a beer and hung out for a bit
More detailed entry to come tomorrow. Just wanted to let those who were wondering: Yes I am alive and still have my house.
2 things that are on my list this week:
Re-enact the Graceland scene from Spinal Tap
Visit Wolf River Harbor.
Gnight from Memphis.
- left Pittsburgh
- arrived in Gulfport, MS mere hours before the airport was shut down to prep for Gustav
- rescued my trailer (thankfully the arena lot wasn't locked shut so we got in
- found diesel fuel on the third try (lots of places where out of everything)
- hit the road
- arrived in Memphis
- parked
- plugged in
- had a beer and hung out for a bit
More detailed entry to come tomorrow. Just wanted to let those who were wondering: Yes I am alive and still have my house.
2 things that are on my list this week:
Re-enact the Graceland scene from Spinal Tap
Visit Wolf River Harbor.
Gnight from Memphis.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
So alone...SOOO A-L-O-N-N-N-E!
I'm sitting in the Pittsburgh airport 2 days early waiting to fly to Gulfport to rescue my hopefully non-broken into truck and trailer. The plan was to hitch up as soon as we got there and split for Jackson, MS.
The updated plan is now to push on to Memphis. The show evacuated Biloxi on Friday to head to Jackson but now all of New Orleans is heading to the arena to wait out the storm. So the show gets to hang in Memphis for a couple days. Sweet.
So now I get to fly into Memphis, Catch the connecting flight to Gulfport, grab the trailer, and drive back up to Memphis.
Goodbye Pittsburgh. You are already missed.
The updated plan is now to push on to Memphis. The show evacuated Biloxi on Friday to head to Jackson but now all of New Orleans is heading to the arena to wait out the storm. So the show gets to hang in Memphis for a couple days. Sweet.
So now I get to fly into Memphis, Catch the connecting flight to Gulfport, grab the trailer, and drive back up to Memphis.
Goodbye Pittsburgh. You are already missed.
Friday, August 29, 2008
New pics posted
Pittsburgh pics from the past couple days HERE. I'm to beat to write about it right now.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
My spite has a first name, it's G-U-S-T-A-V
They are evacuating the Biloxi lot Friday at 2pm. Steve and I get to cut our week off short and fly back early. Thanks, Gustav......Prick.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Things I've learned today......
1. Robin is even more awesome than I remember from High School.
2. Udipi Cafe still has the best Indian Food ever.
3. It's been too long since I've gone running judging how I feel now after my jaunt this morning. Ugh.
4. Hurricane Gustav is supposed to hit Biloxi Monday morning and they are going to possibly evacuate the entire lot.
5. I was smart to leave my truck and trailer keys with the conductor.
2. Udipi Cafe still has the best Indian Food ever.
3. It's been too long since I've gone running judging how I feel now after my jaunt this morning. Ugh.
4. Hurricane Gustav is supposed to hit Biloxi Monday morning and they are going to possibly evacuate the entire lot.
5. I was smart to leave my truck and trailer keys with the conductor.
Pittsburgh Highlights (Mon/Tues)
So anyway Monday night:
I met up with Cleo at her pad and we hopped over to Gina and Scott's to hang for a bit. After that, it was off to the Shadow Lounge since Courtney was celebrating her birthday and Interval (Howie Alexander, Paul Thompson, and James Johnson III for those who don't know but should) was hosting the weekly open session. Perfect combination of friends and music. I kept wanting to whip out the camera and take pictures of everything and film some of the crazy ass shit James, Paul, and Howie were throwing down on stage. Not wanting to seem like a tourist in my own town means there's not much documentation of the night. Justin Bechak and Mark Ignatius were both there which was a great added bonus since I hadn't seen them in a while.
Although it feels great to be back here, it's definitely different. I don't feel grounded here at all anymore (yeah yeah I know it hasn't been that long yet but still....). So that's the short "this is all I feel like writing cause I'm lazy" version of Monday. An even lazier synopsis of Tuesday right here:
Tuesday:
I met up with a different crew at D's Six Packs and Dogs for Justin's birthday. Sarah York Rubin was in the house so all was well with the world.
Another bonus surprise was running into a couple people I had gone to Duquesne with who I haven't seen in probably 5 years or so.
Justin got a call from Ralph who was at Shadow Lounge so we decided to head down there and do a few tunes for the open mic.......which seemed like a good idea.
I don't know if it was over zealousness at playing "real" original music again or what but I played like a retarded 8th grader up there. Granted the kit su-u-u-u-ucked but that's no excuse. Oh well. We may still push for a show in Eire around Halloween when the tour is up there.
Jocelyn met me at the Lounge and we eventually went back and hung out with Cleo for a bit at the Zell pad. I miss that gal.
I'm off to IUP later to hang with my bro after I meet up with a friend from high school who just happens to be visiting home this week as well. Good timing all around thus far.
80s bowling is on for tomorrow night followed by a evening split between The Big Throwback at Brillo and 80s nite at Belvedere's. Viper's Soul Club party is Friday night so there are plenty of chances to expunge all this dance repression that's built up being in mostly shit cities with no good music for the last month.
Picturination
I met up with Cleo at her pad and we hopped over to Gina and Scott's to hang for a bit. After that, it was off to the Shadow Lounge since Courtney was celebrating her birthday and Interval (Howie Alexander, Paul Thompson, and James Johnson III for those who don't know but should) was hosting the weekly open session. Perfect combination of friends and music. I kept wanting to whip out the camera and take pictures of everything and film some of the crazy ass shit James, Paul, and Howie were throwing down on stage. Not wanting to seem like a tourist in my own town means there's not much documentation of the night. Justin Bechak and Mark Ignatius were both there which was a great added bonus since I hadn't seen them in a while.
Although it feels great to be back here, it's definitely different. I don't feel grounded here at all anymore (yeah yeah I know it hasn't been that long yet but still....). So that's the short "this is all I feel like writing cause I'm lazy" version of Monday. An even lazier synopsis of Tuesday right here:
Tuesday:
I met up with a different crew at D's Six Packs and Dogs for Justin's birthday. Sarah York Rubin was in the house so all was well with the world.
Another bonus surprise was running into a couple people I had gone to Duquesne with who I haven't seen in probably 5 years or so.
Justin got a call from Ralph who was at Shadow Lounge so we decided to head down there and do a few tunes for the open mic.......which seemed like a good idea.
I don't know if it was over zealousness at playing "real" original music again or what but I played like a retarded 8th grader up there. Granted the kit su-u-u-u-ucked but that's no excuse. Oh well. We may still push for a show in Eire around Halloween when the tour is up there.
Jocelyn met me at the Lounge and we eventually went back and hung out with Cleo for a bit at the Zell pad. I miss that gal.
I'm off to IUP later to hang with my bro after I meet up with a friend from high school who just happens to be visiting home this week as well. Good timing all around thus far.
80s bowling is on for tomorrow night followed by a evening split between The Big Throwback at Brillo and 80s nite at Belvedere's. Viper's Soul Club party is Friday night so there are plenty of chances to expunge all this dance repression that's built up being in mostly shit cities with no good music for the last month.
Picturination
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah
There is much to write that encompasses a wide ass range of emotions. And for that reason I may not write much about it if anything at all. I'm not at the point of serving personal innerworkings up on a platter for all the interwebs to digest quite yet.
I did just stop at Sheetz for an MTO though and that felt like home. And Sammy groggily greeted me at the door upon my arrival. He may not be cut out for circus performing but he's still a baddd ass wiener dog.
I did just stop at Sheetz for an MTO though and that felt like home. And Sammy groggily greeted me at the door upon my arrival. He may not be cut out for circus performing but he's still a baddd ass wiener dog.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Home is where the Yinz is
So I just woke up after crashing a bit in Monroeville at my parents house. Fay was rocking the trailers just like Eduardo had tried to so that combined with the anticipation of coming home didn't lead to much sleep. Our flight left Biloxi at 6:30 this morning and we only had a 30min layover in Memphis so once again I was unable to go visit Wolf River Harbor and acknowledge the loss of a great songwriter/performer 11 years ago. Forget about Elvis.
Elizabeth met us at the airport and it felt a bit odd driving through the city on the way to Monroeville. It's only been about a month and a half but I felt like a tourist. I'm excited to catch up with everyone and am trying to plan things out properly to achieve the maximum amount of visitage in the time allotted.
Plenty of pictures to be posted soon I'm sure.
Elizabeth met us at the airport and it felt a bit odd driving through the city on the way to Monroeville. It's only been about a month and a half but I felt like a tourist. I'm excited to catch up with everyone and am trying to plan things out properly to achieve the maximum amount of visitage in the time allotted.
Plenty of pictures to be posted soon I'm sure.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
...
The Gulf of Mexico and Biloxi Casinos are all fine and good.....but I can't wait to be back in Pittsburgh next week....
Monday, August 18, 2008
When it rains, it pours. (yuk yuk yuk)
So I'm in an RV park w/Steve....in Hidalgo.....in the middle of the biggest rainstorm this part of Texas has seen in a lonnnnnng time.
But I digress. We'll back up about 12hrs.
Around 10 this morning Steve talked to the service tech working on his truck. He said they were still waiting for some gaskets but the truck would be done and ready to pick up sometime in the afternoon.
There were a few show people who had stayed the night on the lot but one by one they packed up and left until it was just Steve and I. Keep in mind that show power had been pulled the night before so the generator could head to Biloxi. Luckily, it had begun to rain during the night and was shaping up to be an overcast day so it wasn't going to be lava hot like it had been all week.
We went out to lunch, ran a few errands and came back to the lot around 4 so Steve could call the guy to find out the truck status. This guy had given him his cell number so he could be reached at any time. The first time he called, he was told the guy was "busy". When called again about 45minutes later no one picked up. It was time to pay the dealership a visit.
T'was a good thing because we were informed that the guy had quit/been fired the day before and hadn't transferred responsibility of informing Steve of the truck's status to anyone else. At that point they said worst case scenario, the truck would be done by 5pm.......tomorrow.
We don't open until Thursday in Biloxi so we'll still be able to get there in time but still.......
But that's merely where the story begins boys and girls. You see by the time we left the dealership it had begun to p-o-u-r down rain. This wouldn't have been a huge deal if we were staying on the lot another night. We figured for safety and peace of mind it would be best to stay at an RV park for the night.
So, in the torrential downpour that ensued we first hooked up Steve's hitch to my truck and hooked up his travel trailer. Unfortunately since my rear suspension isn't as high as Steve's the trailer would've basically been dragging on the ground had we pulled out. He took shelter under the lip of my 5th wheel and adjusted the hitch. After that we were good to go.......
Hidalgo doesn't get all that much rain. Recently however they gotten much more than their average amount. So when this freaking tsunami hit, there was already so much water in the ground that there wasn't any more room for this excess water to be absorbed. So it just stayed put all over the road. Like crazy deep! We got the RV park just fine, backed Steve's trailer in, un-hitched it, and jumped back in my truck to go fetch my 5th Wheel.
After another soaking whilst hooking everything up we were back on the road crossing even deeper reservoirs of water collected in the middle of the road. There were cops all over the highway and it seemed every 5th person or so had not quite understood the laws of physics regarding driving during a flash flood warning. Luckily we arrived in one piece at the RV park and I backed my trailer into its spot. The owner had warned me that there was only a 50amp hook-up. No problem, I had the correct adapter. He had shown me two spots back to back that I could pull into so naturally I chose the easier one.
Turns out that 50amp power supply he had mentioned was one the complete opposite end of the OTHER spot next to me. I found this only after doubling up the amount of wood I use to lower my front jacks onto and trying to devise a way to prevent my wheel chocks from floating away. The rain was incidental at this point since I was 'cannonball off the high dive' wet anyway.
Steve came over and we went through every possibility of cable combination trying to figure how to get me some power. It started to look like the only option was to head to Wal-Mart and buy an extension. At the last minute though we found that there was a 20amp plug-in in the circuit box. Steve just so happened to have an adapter and extension cord that would take my 30amp cable down to 20amp and reach the circuit box. I would just have to make sure I didn't run the air and microwave at the same time. Sweet.
After two or three trips back and forth pushing the reset button and flipping the breaker, I had me some power. So I dried off for the umphteenth time and gave my Mom a call to touch base. I decided I'd try to conserve power as not to blow the circuit and raised the thermostat until it clicked off. As soon as it clicked off, I (like a genius) fired it back up for some reason.....and blew the circuit. After one more trip out into the freezing (did I mention the rain was freaking FREEZING....yeah, we're basically IN Mexico in the middle of August and it feels like Pittsburgh in March...go figure) rain to reset things, the drama for the day ended (knock on wood). I gave my mom a call to give the 'all clear' while trying to dry out a bit.
This week off in Pittsburgh is coming at just the right time.
We brought all of this on ourselves though when we joked that we had had our fill of Adven.....er.....the A-word.
From now we only reference that word by calling it the 'A-Word' or referring to this picture:
G'night from freaking Hidalgo. Traveling in Texas is like dividing by zero.
But I digress. We'll back up about 12hrs.
Around 10 this morning Steve talked to the service tech working on his truck. He said they were still waiting for some gaskets but the truck would be done and ready to pick up sometime in the afternoon.
There were a few show people who had stayed the night on the lot but one by one they packed up and left until it was just Steve and I. Keep in mind that show power had been pulled the night before so the generator could head to Biloxi. Luckily, it had begun to rain during the night and was shaping up to be an overcast day so it wasn't going to be lava hot like it had been all week.
We went out to lunch, ran a few errands and came back to the lot around 4 so Steve could call the guy to find out the truck status. This guy had given him his cell number so he could be reached at any time. The first time he called, he was told the guy was "busy". When called again about 45minutes later no one picked up. It was time to pay the dealership a visit.
T'was a good thing because we were informed that the guy had quit/been fired the day before and hadn't transferred responsibility of informing Steve of the truck's status to anyone else. At that point they said worst case scenario, the truck would be done by 5pm.......tomorrow.
We don't open until Thursday in Biloxi so we'll still be able to get there in time but still.......
But that's merely where the story begins boys and girls. You see by the time we left the dealership it had begun to p-o-u-r down rain. This wouldn't have been a huge deal if we were staying on the lot another night. We figured for safety and peace of mind it would be best to stay at an RV park for the night.
So, in the torrential downpour that ensued we first hooked up Steve's hitch to my truck and hooked up his travel trailer. Unfortunately since my rear suspension isn't as high as Steve's the trailer would've basically been dragging on the ground had we pulled out. He took shelter under the lip of my 5th wheel and adjusted the hitch. After that we were good to go.......
Hidalgo doesn't get all that much rain. Recently however they gotten much more than their average amount. So when this freaking tsunami hit, there was already so much water in the ground that there wasn't any more room for this excess water to be absorbed. So it just stayed put all over the road. Like crazy deep! We got the RV park just fine, backed Steve's trailer in, un-hitched it, and jumped back in my truck to go fetch my 5th Wheel.
After another soaking whilst hooking everything up we were back on the road crossing even deeper reservoirs of water collected in the middle of the road. There were cops all over the highway and it seemed every 5th person or so had not quite understood the laws of physics regarding driving during a flash flood warning. Luckily we arrived in one piece at the RV park and I backed my trailer into its spot. The owner had warned me that there was only a 50amp hook-up. No problem, I had the correct adapter. He had shown me two spots back to back that I could pull into so naturally I chose the easier one.
Turns out that 50amp power supply he had mentioned was one the complete opposite end of the OTHER spot next to me. I found this only after doubling up the amount of wood I use to lower my front jacks onto and trying to devise a way to prevent my wheel chocks from floating away. The rain was incidental at this point since I was 'cannonball off the high dive' wet anyway.
Steve came over and we went through every possibility of cable combination trying to figure how to get me some power. It started to look like the only option was to head to Wal-Mart and buy an extension. At the last minute though we found that there was a 20amp plug-in in the circuit box. Steve just so happened to have an adapter and extension cord that would take my 30amp cable down to 20amp and reach the circuit box. I would just have to make sure I didn't run the air and microwave at the same time. Sweet.
After two or three trips back and forth pushing the reset button and flipping the breaker, I had me some power. So I dried off for the umphteenth time and gave my Mom a call to touch base. I decided I'd try to conserve power as not to blow the circuit and raised the thermostat until it clicked off. As soon as it clicked off, I (like a genius) fired it back up for some reason.....and blew the circuit. After one more trip out into the freezing (did I mention the rain was freaking FREEZING....yeah, we're basically IN Mexico in the middle of August and it feels like Pittsburgh in March...go figure) rain to reset things, the drama for the day ended (knock on wood). I gave my mom a call to give the 'all clear' while trying to dry out a bit.
This week off in Pittsburgh is coming at just the right time.
We brought all of this on ourselves though when we joked that we had had our fill of Adven.....er.....the A-word.
From now we only reference that word by calling it the 'A-Word' or referring to this picture:
G'night from freaking Hidalgo. Traveling in Texas is like dividing by zero.
The Neverending Texxxxaaaaasssss...oh oh oh....
So Steve and I are still in Hidalgo. His truck needed new fuel injectors and they promised it to him today. Hopefully that means in a couple hours and not at 8 tonight. Biloxi is 13 hours away. There's a beach there and.......ACTUAL NIGHTLIFE..... Zoinks!
I think what we've learned from this is not to ever again say to each other: "You know, I think we've had enough adventures" because BAM! your truck will die.
Luckily it rained all night so not having any power isn't as much of an inconvenience as it could've been if the Texas/Mexican sun was blaring down.
Oh well, I'm off to sit around for a bit.
Pittsburgh visit in 1 week! Woot!
I think what we've learned from this is not to ever again say to each other: "You know, I think we've had enough adventures" because BAM! your truck will die.
Luckily it rained all night so not having any power isn't as much of an inconvenience as it could've been if the Texas/Mexican sun was blaring down.
Oh well, I'm off to sit around for a bit.
Pittsburgh visit in 1 week! Woot!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
5 bux sux! 5 bux sux!
So last night made me realize I'm truly among the right people out here.
This was the scene last night around midnight: 5 BUX SUX!
I love this place.
This was the scene last night around midnight: 5 BUX SUX!
I love this place.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Down Mexico Way
So Mexico. Reynosa, Mexico.
Fair warning that this post ain't all sunshine and butterflies. Just sayin'. I went to talk to people, observe, and learn whatever I could.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for Bucho
The original plan was to cross the border, find people to talk to about the place, scope out the scene, grab some tacos, and cross back over.
Crossing over was no problem whatsoever. No customs, no checkpoints, nothing. I guess if you're coming into Mexico to spend $$$ then they are happy to have you.
The change was almost immediate once we were in. We had traveled under 5 miles from Hidalgo and were suddenly in the middle of a third world country. There were some businesses that were doing OK mixed in with tons of crumbling buildings mixed with the stench of well......just stench. It was kinda like being in Detroit. Only here you deal with a beggar trying to sell you chicle or kids just running up to you holding out their hands palms up.
It's very obviously to everyone including yourself just how foreign you really are. Luckily, we met a dude who also speaks pretty fluent Spanish on top of English. There enough people in the group that it would've been somewhat of a challenge to kidnap all of us. We walked towards the hotel and passed a woman operating a taco bar. 7 little tacos and a glass bottle of coke for $3. Not bad. Since the hotel was a few steps away, we order up some tacos and went to check into the hotel while they were being prepared.
In the hotel there was a bunch of younger Mexican dudes just kinda hanging around eyeing us up as we walked in. Our plan was to get two triple rooms right next to each other (on of the things I learned that tends to happen in Mexico is hotels will try to spread you out as far as possible if you're with a group. Easier to rob ya/do whatever if you're not in your pack). Needless to say, the guy claimed there were no more triple rooms. The doubles we were going to get would be two on one floor on opposite ends of the hallway, and the other room one floor down. Shady.
We left to think about it over the tacos. Dayum dems was some good tacos! The big difference with Mexican food close to the border or in Mexico as opposed to other parts of the country is the tortilla. Those things are made fresh from scratch, yo. The taco bar had this bowl of super spicy lemon sauce that was killer. And coke just tastes better out of a glass bottle. There was something different about it too. In Louisiana, you can get Dr. Pepper made with pure cane sugar instead of good 'ole High Fructose Corn Syrup. I'm pretty sure the same is true in Mexico with Coke. I'm guessing maybe from Cuba or something since they don't have the embargo kickin'? Whatever the case, it was awesome.
We decided to stick with the hotel since it was the closest one to the border. The nearest alternative was about 12 blocks away. The rooms were by no means 5 star but considering where we were, they weren't all that bad. We slipped our passports under the TV so we wouldn't have them accessible for pickpocketing while we were out and they wouldn't be in plain site in the hotel room. P.S., the Gideons never made it to Mexico.
Upon exiting the hotel we walked up a bit to hail a cab to take us to our destination. We passed a Pharmacy and it was explained to me how they work: It is a real pharmacy, you just don't need a prescription for anything.....at all. Everything is available for cheap: Valium, Percoset, Oxycodone....anything. Nothing's illegal in Mexico. Yikes. Well....except maybe spitting. If you spit on the ground and the cops or military see it, you'll probably get arrested.
Anyhoo, we hailed to cabs and set off into the night. Apparently there are no traffic laws in Mexico. It's just drive and swerve through the narrow dirt roads winding through the city. Our translator was in the other car and the 4 years of Spanish I took and high school had completely escaped me. We waved the other cab next to us and they explained where we were off to (I still had no idea where we were really going expect for the name: Boy's Town).
The gate we arrived at required a $2 fee to pass through. The cab ride was like $7.
This place made the neighborhood where our hotel was look like Sewickely. There was one bumpy dirt road that eventually turned right and lopped back around. The basic layout was a couple of square blocks. The crumbling buildings on either side were continuous one-story structures partitioned into rooms with a couple of bars in line here and there. The smell had intensified quite a bit. Outside any of the open doors was a girl dressed like it was Halloween in the South Side. All in all within the compounds I'd estimate there were 100-150 rooms? It started to sink in where we were. The business transactions were simple. $10 for 20 minutes. Welcome to Boy's Town. I was close to turning right back around but thought better of walking by myself back to the hotel. I just followed along, talked to people about the place, and observed. Here was the education I was looking for.
I was told the complex is run and regulated by the government and run by the police so it's one of the "safer" places to be......as long as you don't walk around flashing cash like a dumbass in front of cops. Another game they like to play in Mexico is to find a larger group of Americans and arrest everyone but a couple people in the group and throw them in jail. The other two have to hit up the ATM to pay "bail" to spring their friends. No charges. No questions. Just $$$. The really sad part is that a lot of the girls had been sold by their parents to this place when they were just kids. Others were saving up $$$ to leave and go to college. Others still just went there to earn $$$ after tucking their kids into bed. A different world indeed.
We made our way to one of the bars where an English speaking "guide" worked. If we wanted a bottle of water, he'd dash off down the street somewhere and come back with a sealed fresh bottle. If someone wandered off....no problem: you can give him like $4 and he would follow whoever had strayed and make sure that nothing happened to them. He was a good dude to have around. The whole vibe though was just surreal and very hard to put into words. I was replused and intrigued that these places actually exist. Believe, entering into a business transaction never crossed my mine. Disgusting but also sad. It was both amusing and odd to watch the patrons run back and forth in and out of doors like it was a Scooby Doo chase sequence. You could almost hear Benny Hill music playing in the background.
At some point in the night, we unintentionally made a new "friend". This Mexican dude comes up and starts in:
"Oh man, it's so good to finally speak English to someone. Can I hang with y'all blahblah. I just came here from Florida, sold my car, blahblah, live around the corner etcetc."
My instinct said the guy was half sincere/half hustler. He followed us around for hours. He wouldn't learn our names and instead coined monickers for us:
"Who's that singer guy that died?....I can't remember his name..." And so on
"Uh, Kurt Cobain"
"Yeah! You look like Kurt Cobain bro!" We had to remind him a dozen more times of the name.
And:
"Oh mannnn....it's Biggie Small's yo!" Yeah.
Ok. Long story short with this dude. The guy was with the Latin Kings or someone comparable in Florida. He had all these gang scars and kept subtly slipping in that he could sell us crack or anything we wanted. It was best not to offend the guy so we declined his offer but didn't tell him to get lost. It was really transparent what he was after especially since he kept saying:
"Hey man, I just want you to know I just wanted to hang with y'all. I'm not trying to hustle you or anything or go fuck you up anywhere. I just miss speaking English".
We eventually headed over to the bar 'Lipstick' on the corner. It was like jumping though a portal again as the place was really quite classy and very clean. It was just a drunk and silly time at our table (with the constant interruptions of our buddy yelling "Hey! Heeeyyyyy! take my picture! I don't want y'all to forget about me!")
He kept trying to get our phone number and find out if we were staying the night and where in addition always trying to get just one of us to come off and "go across the street, man" with him.
He followed us back out to our home base bar as well.
We were hanging out in the street when the convoys rolled by. Two jeep truck things filled with extremely heavily armed soldiers rolled by. We were told they roll through a couple times per night just to make sure that no one is fighting or causing any trouble. The one thing you never ever do with these guys is make eye contact. One dude told the story how he happened to glance and catch a soldiers eye. He immediately looked down at the grown and after a few seconds looked back up to find soldier still staring him down as they drove away. If you hold eye contact there is a good chance the convoy will stop, the soldier will jump off and come up to you. You might here something like "That's a nice chain." YANK. "Empty your pockets". SNAG. And if even show signs of putting up some kind of resistance they may very likely gun you down in the street.
"And THAT's why you never make eye contact with a Mexican Solider."
At some point in the night, there was a old guy with no teeth and a horrendously out of tune guitar singing Mexican songs to the group next to us. We decided we wanted a song or two and since the other group wasn't tipping at all and we were, he came right over. He opened with what was quite possibly the funniest version of "Oh What a Night" I've ever heard. He didn't get to finish though as the group of Mexican guys next to us and gone over to the jukebox and started blasting out music. Apparently we had offended them by stealing their musician. The lady at the bar promptly went over and yanked the cord out of the wall and basically threw them out. It pays to tip in Mexico, haha.
He continued into a broken English version of "Hotel California" and closed his set with Let It Be. It was a pretty fun moment with everyone in the bar.
After a while we ended up back at 'Lipstick' and were treated to the funniest site all night. There were these three young Asian businessmen back on one of the VIP couches, each with a girl in his lap. The dude next to the wall had his head tilted all the back, jaw open, and snoring away. The dude on the other end of the couch kept doing the slow head droop snap back up thing that used to happen during boring classes in High School. Eventually he couldn't snap his head back up and was out. The ladies were not nearly as amused at this sight as we were.
It had gotten to be pretty late so we piled into one tiny cab and headed back to the hotel only to find the door locked. After a split second of panic we flashed our room keys to the dude at the desk and they let us in. He spoke English and asked if had a good time, where we were from, etc. He started half joking/half serious asking which one of us was the cop. It was funny at first but started to feel a little odd so we just said goodnight and headed up to the rooms.
Since I had not initially planned on staying the night we had to get in our beds with the invisible layer of....I don't know, just Mexico still on us. And to reinterate: our curiosities were not even close tonagging us THAT much so no we didn't partake of anything in Boy's town besides some Corona's. Asssssss ifffff. Bleh.
*felt it was very important to make sure we are all clear on that point!!!
It was after 4 by the time we were in our room and we were up at 10 to start heading back to the US. As easy as it was to enter Mexico, it was rather convoluted to re-enter the us. We had trek up this weird curvy ascending pedestrian bridge that seemed rather pointless that eventually led to customs. During the final leg this Mexican dude comes up and he and the one dude had the best conversation ever:
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
Awesome.
I had never gone to customs so wasn't sure what to expect. I started to head towards the dude with no one in line but he yelled "You're with 4 that means you go in 3!!!". Uh.....what? I just kind of nodded and joined the group in the same line. After an easy passport swipe we were back in US. The post Mexico shower was by far the best ever.
It was an experience not soon to be forgotten. At points it felt like a vivid dream. I'm glad I went to experience it but am not anxious to go back.
It's definetly important to see something like that first hand to really appreciate the life you have. I'm not doing bad at all right now.
Again Mexico Pictures and the "Let it Be" music video are HERE.
Fair warning that this post ain't all sunshine and butterflies. Just sayin'. I went to talk to people, observe, and learn whatever I could.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for Bucho
The original plan was to cross the border, find people to talk to about the place, scope out the scene, grab some tacos, and cross back over.
Crossing over was no problem whatsoever. No customs, no checkpoints, nothing. I guess if you're coming into Mexico to spend $$$ then they are happy to have you.
The change was almost immediate once we were in. We had traveled under 5 miles from Hidalgo and were suddenly in the middle of a third world country. There were some businesses that were doing OK mixed in with tons of crumbling buildings mixed with the stench of well......just stench. It was kinda like being in Detroit. Only here you deal with a beggar trying to sell you chicle or kids just running up to you holding out their hands palms up.
It's very obviously to everyone including yourself just how foreign you really are. Luckily, we met a dude who also speaks pretty fluent Spanish on top of English. There enough people in the group that it would've been somewhat of a challenge to kidnap all of us. We walked towards the hotel and passed a woman operating a taco bar. 7 little tacos and a glass bottle of coke for $3. Not bad. Since the hotel was a few steps away, we order up some tacos and went to check into the hotel while they were being prepared.
In the hotel there was a bunch of younger Mexican dudes just kinda hanging around eyeing us up as we walked in. Our plan was to get two triple rooms right next to each other (on of the things I learned that tends to happen in Mexico is hotels will try to spread you out as far as possible if you're with a group. Easier to rob ya/do whatever if you're not in your pack). Needless to say, the guy claimed there were no more triple rooms. The doubles we were going to get would be two on one floor on opposite ends of the hallway, and the other room one floor down. Shady.
We left to think about it over the tacos. Dayum dems was some good tacos! The big difference with Mexican food close to the border or in Mexico as opposed to other parts of the country is the tortilla. Those things are made fresh from scratch, yo. The taco bar had this bowl of super spicy lemon sauce that was killer. And coke just tastes better out of a glass bottle. There was something different about it too. In Louisiana, you can get Dr. Pepper made with pure cane sugar instead of good 'ole High Fructose Corn Syrup. I'm pretty sure the same is true in Mexico with Coke. I'm guessing maybe from Cuba or something since they don't have the embargo kickin'? Whatever the case, it was awesome.
We decided to stick with the hotel since it was the closest one to the border. The nearest alternative was about 12 blocks away. The rooms were by no means 5 star but considering where we were, they weren't all that bad. We slipped our passports under the TV so we wouldn't have them accessible for pickpocketing while we were out and they wouldn't be in plain site in the hotel room. P.S., the Gideons never made it to Mexico.
Upon exiting the hotel we walked up a bit to hail a cab to take us to our destination. We passed a Pharmacy and it was explained to me how they work: It is a real pharmacy, you just don't need a prescription for anything.....at all. Everything is available for cheap: Valium, Percoset, Oxycodone....anything. Nothing's illegal in Mexico. Yikes. Well....except maybe spitting. If you spit on the ground and the cops or military see it, you'll probably get arrested.
Anyhoo, we hailed to cabs and set off into the night. Apparently there are no traffic laws in Mexico. It's just drive and swerve through the narrow dirt roads winding through the city. Our translator was in the other car and the 4 years of Spanish I took and high school had completely escaped me. We waved the other cab next to us and they explained where we were off to (I still had no idea where we were really going expect for the name: Boy's Town).
The gate we arrived at required a $2 fee to pass through. The cab ride was like $7.
This place made the neighborhood where our hotel was look like Sewickely. There was one bumpy dirt road that eventually turned right and lopped back around. The basic layout was a couple of square blocks. The crumbling buildings on either side were continuous one-story structures partitioned into rooms with a couple of bars in line here and there. The smell had intensified quite a bit. Outside any of the open doors was a girl dressed like it was Halloween in the South Side. All in all within the compounds I'd estimate there were 100-150 rooms? It started to sink in where we were. The business transactions were simple. $10 for 20 minutes. Welcome to Boy's Town. I was close to turning right back around but thought better of walking by myself back to the hotel. I just followed along, talked to people about the place, and observed. Here was the education I was looking for.
I was told the complex is run and regulated by the government and run by the police so it's one of the "safer" places to be......as long as you don't walk around flashing cash like a dumbass in front of cops. Another game they like to play in Mexico is to find a larger group of Americans and arrest everyone but a couple people in the group and throw them in jail. The other two have to hit up the ATM to pay "bail" to spring their friends. No charges. No questions. Just $$$. The really sad part is that a lot of the girls had been sold by their parents to this place when they were just kids. Others were saving up $$$ to leave and go to college. Others still just went there to earn $$$ after tucking their kids into bed. A different world indeed.
We made our way to one of the bars where an English speaking "guide" worked. If we wanted a bottle of water, he'd dash off down the street somewhere and come back with a sealed fresh bottle. If someone wandered off....no problem: you can give him like $4 and he would follow whoever had strayed and make sure that nothing happened to them. He was a good dude to have around. The whole vibe though was just surreal and very hard to put into words. I was replused and intrigued that these places actually exist. Believe, entering into a business transaction never crossed my mine. Disgusting but also sad. It was both amusing and odd to watch the patrons run back and forth in and out of doors like it was a Scooby Doo chase sequence. You could almost hear Benny Hill music playing in the background.
At some point in the night, we unintentionally made a new "friend". This Mexican dude comes up and starts in:
"Oh man, it's so good to finally speak English to someone. Can I hang with y'all blahblah. I just came here from Florida, sold my car, blahblah, live around the corner etcetc."
My instinct said the guy was half sincere/half hustler. He followed us around for hours. He wouldn't learn our names and instead coined monickers for us:
"Who's that singer guy that died?....I can't remember his name..." And so on
"Uh, Kurt Cobain"
"Yeah! You look like Kurt Cobain bro!" We had to remind him a dozen more times of the name.
And:
"Oh mannnn....it's Biggie Small's yo!" Yeah.
Ok. Long story short with this dude. The guy was with the Latin Kings or someone comparable in Florida. He had all these gang scars and kept subtly slipping in that he could sell us crack or anything we wanted. It was best not to offend the guy so we declined his offer but didn't tell him to get lost. It was really transparent what he was after especially since he kept saying:
"Hey man, I just want you to know I just wanted to hang with y'all. I'm not trying to hustle you or anything or go fuck you up anywhere. I just miss speaking English".
We eventually headed over to the bar 'Lipstick' on the corner. It was like jumping though a portal again as the place was really quite classy and very clean. It was just a drunk and silly time at our table (with the constant interruptions of our buddy yelling "Hey! Heeeyyyyy! take my picture! I don't want y'all to forget about me!")
He kept trying to get our phone number and find out if we were staying the night and where in addition always trying to get just one of us to come off and "go across the street, man" with him.
He followed us back out to our home base bar as well.
We were hanging out in the street when the convoys rolled by. Two jeep truck things filled with extremely heavily armed soldiers rolled by. We were told they roll through a couple times per night just to make sure that no one is fighting or causing any trouble. The one thing you never ever do with these guys is make eye contact. One dude told the story how he happened to glance and catch a soldiers eye. He immediately looked down at the grown and after a few seconds looked back up to find soldier still staring him down as they drove away. If you hold eye contact there is a good chance the convoy will stop, the soldier will jump off and come up to you. You might here something like "That's a nice chain." YANK. "Empty your pockets". SNAG. And if even show signs of putting up some kind of resistance they may very likely gun you down in the street.
"And THAT's why you never make eye contact with a Mexican Solider."
At some point in the night, there was a old guy with no teeth and a horrendously out of tune guitar singing Mexican songs to the group next to us. We decided we wanted a song or two and since the other group wasn't tipping at all and we were, he came right over. He opened with what was quite possibly the funniest version of "Oh What a Night" I've ever heard. He didn't get to finish though as the group of Mexican guys next to us and gone over to the jukebox and started blasting out music. Apparently we had offended them by stealing their musician. The lady at the bar promptly went over and yanked the cord out of the wall and basically threw them out. It pays to tip in Mexico, haha.
He continued into a broken English version of "Hotel California" and closed his set with Let It Be. It was a pretty fun moment with everyone in the bar.
After a while we ended up back at 'Lipstick' and were treated to the funniest site all night. There were these three young Asian businessmen back on one of the VIP couches, each with a girl in his lap. The dude next to the wall had his head tilted all the back, jaw open, and snoring away. The dude on the other end of the couch kept doing the slow head droop snap back up thing that used to happen during boring classes in High School. Eventually he couldn't snap his head back up and was out. The ladies were not nearly as amused at this sight as we were.
It had gotten to be pretty late so we piled into one tiny cab and headed back to the hotel only to find the door locked. After a split second of panic we flashed our room keys to the dude at the desk and they let us in. He spoke English and asked if had a good time, where we were from, etc. He started half joking/half serious asking which one of us was the cop. It was funny at first but started to feel a little odd so we just said goodnight and headed up to the rooms.
Since I had not initially planned on staying the night we had to get in our beds with the invisible layer of....I don't know, just Mexico still on us. And to reinterate: our curiosities were not even close tonagging us THAT much so no we didn't partake of anything in Boy's town besides some Corona's. Asssssss ifffff. Bleh.
*felt it was very important to make sure we are all clear on that point!!!
It was after 4 by the time we were in our room and we were up at 10 to start heading back to the US. As easy as it was to enter Mexico, it was rather convoluted to re-enter the us. We had trek up this weird curvy ascending pedestrian bridge that seemed rather pointless that eventually led to customs. During the final leg this Mexican dude comes up and he and the one dude had the best conversation ever:
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
"Give me a dollar"
"No"
Awesome.
I had never gone to customs so wasn't sure what to expect. I started to head towards the dude with no one in line but he yelled "You're with 4 that means you go in 3!!!". Uh.....what? I just kind of nodded and joined the group in the same line. After an easy passport swipe we were back in US. The post Mexico shower was by far the best ever.
It was an experience not soon to be forgotten. At points it felt like a vivid dream. I'm glad I went to experience it but am not anxious to go back.
It's definetly important to see something like that first hand to really appreciate the life you have. I'm not doing bad at all right now.
Again Mexico Pictures and the "Let it Be" music video are HERE.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
oh what a night indeed....
I spent the night in Mexico and saw very interesting things. Photos and the story forthcoming.....
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Lawdy Lawdy please deliver me from F'ing Texas.....
So I've been slacking on here with updates So I'll backtrack a little bit.
So before Eduardo hiccuped in our direction Brian, Mica and I went on a walk to explore the Lake and beach. There are a ton of these ugly ass Turkey birds all over the place. They're not quite as big as the wild turkeys of South Oakland that like to attack cyclists but were still pretty beefy. They like to hang out on the sidewalks and strut around. There were a couple with a line of chicks following them around that weren't quite big enough to hop the curb to reach the sidewalk without tumbling back down. They were super cute and it's a shame they are all going to grow up to become goony looking turkey-birds.
On the way to the lake there was a fenced off section that led past what looked to be some sort of hotel. The fence was down so we felt it was worth exploring. It appeared to be completely abandoned and upon closer inspection we discovered it used to be a casino/hotel/crappy resort. The eerie thing was that some of the rooms had lights on and appeared to be occupied. Crossing the rocky surf between the resort and the lake, we discovered (in addition to a plethora of sandals and syringes) a ladder leading up to the fire escape and shorts draped across a makeshift clothesline. Apparently it's now a Bum Paradise.
We passed some dumb looking kids smoking pot in the bushes and continued on to the beach.
The water was really nasty but it didn't prevent people from frolicking about in it. It reminded me of that Billy Murray SNL sketch for Swill Mineral Water. Among the beach frolickers were some of the Russian Acrobat kids. They were plastered and had buried the one dude in the sand since he was too drunk to fight anyone off. Hilarity ensued as we stopped to hang for a bit.
On the way back to the lot, we headed onto some rock formations with lots of little cave areas that it would really suck to get stuck in. That's when Mica spotted the crab and decided to go hunting. He came close to catching one until it clamped onto his hand then scurried away. We found a few more but they just buried themselves in the sand.
It seems totally lame writing about it now but it was actually a really good time. I need spicier adjectives or something I guess.
After the Tuesday show I headed out to this cool bar with Bones and Mica to kick off the era of my new drink of choice. No more well whiskey and cokes. I have a real job now and can afford something a bit classier. Now I drink Manhattans. The problem is I'm not very well practiced at adjusting my pace yet so.....yeah.
We ended up across the street eventually and ran into some people from the show. A few of the Russian acrobats were there, some concessions people, Nicole (elephant rider) and Diana (dog trainer). I hadn't really talked with Diana yet and in my head we had a pretty good conversation (of course the first time I talk with the gal I'm 3 Manhattans into the night plus a beer and shot of somethingorother so who knows how things really went). I don't think I scared anyone off though.... I learned my lesson with pacing though as I had the spins for the first time in a verrrrry long time. No fun there. I'm digging the drink upgrade though.
Anyway, after the show on Wed (it was a split week which means we hit two towns in the same week) I had to yank the Tiger fence back to make enough room to get my trailer out. Never a dull moment.
Then it was off to Beaumont, TX. And Beaumont was.....well......Beaumont was there.
I met a cool theater/choreographer gal at a coffeeshop but our schedules didn't align properly to hang out again. The shows there went well but the crowds were on sedatives or something and weren't very responsive.
After Beaumont, we had an 8hr drive to get to Hidalgo. The plan was to get through Houston and drive a little further then pack it in for the night and finish the drive in the morning. By the time Steve and I stopped though we were only 2 1/2 hours away so we decided to push on through. We rolled into the lot at about 6am. Set up the trailer and crashed around 7:30. Was back up at 9:00 when the power was ready and plugged in (I've gotten accustomed to having AC). Crashed back out until about 1:00 then headed up to McAllen (there is NOTHING in Hidalgo) to run errands with Steve and Brian.
We went to this Mexican restaurant and had the best Mexican food in the universe. We made a stop at Guitar Center and I picked up an Acoustic and got my O8 MIDI Controller for my laptop setup.
The timing for getting the gear is great since the show isn't a concern anymore and I need a hobby. I'm working on getting my calluses built back up shedding some Jeff Buckley tunes. I think all the singing in the car has helped because my range isn't that bad anymore and I probably have 75% pitch accuracy instead of the usual -500%.
That's about that. We are 3 miles from the Mexican border so if Steve ever calls me we're probably going to head over there and try not to get kidnapped or killed.
That is about it. If I would've updated regularly like a good little blogger I'm sure the stories would've been much more lush and full of funny side notes.
I'll try to remedy that moving forward.
I'll be visiting Pittsburgh at the end of the month since we have a week off between Mississippi dates so that will be good. Things really kind of hit in Beaumont. I miss everyone and the fact that there is always something awesome happening in Pittsburgh. If I don't get an 80s nite in soon I may snap.
Ta ta for now....
P.S. I am so sick of Texas and its stupid access roads......
So before Eduardo hiccuped in our direction Brian, Mica and I went on a walk to explore the Lake and beach. There are a ton of these ugly ass Turkey birds all over the place. They're not quite as big as the wild turkeys of South Oakland that like to attack cyclists but were still pretty beefy. They like to hang out on the sidewalks and strut around. There were a couple with a line of chicks following them around that weren't quite big enough to hop the curb to reach the sidewalk without tumbling back down. They were super cute and it's a shame they are all going to grow up to become goony looking turkey-birds.
On the way to the lake there was a fenced off section that led past what looked to be some sort of hotel. The fence was down so we felt it was worth exploring. It appeared to be completely abandoned and upon closer inspection we discovered it used to be a casino/hotel/crappy resort. The eerie thing was that some of the rooms had lights on and appeared to be occupied. Crossing the rocky surf between the resort and the lake, we discovered (in addition to a plethora of sandals and syringes) a ladder leading up to the fire escape and shorts draped across a makeshift clothesline. Apparently it's now a Bum Paradise.
We passed some dumb looking kids smoking pot in the bushes and continued on to the beach.
The water was really nasty but it didn't prevent people from frolicking about in it. It reminded me of that Billy Murray SNL sketch for Swill Mineral Water. Among the beach frolickers were some of the Russian Acrobat kids. They were plastered and had buried the one dude in the sand since he was too drunk to fight anyone off. Hilarity ensued as we stopped to hang for a bit.
On the way back to the lot, we headed onto some rock formations with lots of little cave areas that it would really suck to get stuck in. That's when Mica spotted the crab and decided to go hunting. He came close to catching one until it clamped onto his hand then scurried away. We found a few more but they just buried themselves in the sand.
It seems totally lame writing about it now but it was actually a really good time. I need spicier adjectives or something I guess.
After the Tuesday show I headed out to this cool bar with Bones and Mica to kick off the era of my new drink of choice. No more well whiskey and cokes. I have a real job now and can afford something a bit classier. Now I drink Manhattans. The problem is I'm not very well practiced at adjusting my pace yet so.....yeah.
We ended up across the street eventually and ran into some people from the show. A few of the Russian acrobats were there, some concessions people, Nicole (elephant rider) and Diana (dog trainer). I hadn't really talked with Diana yet and in my head we had a pretty good conversation (of course the first time I talk with the gal I'm 3 Manhattans into the night plus a beer and shot of somethingorother so who knows how things really went). I don't think I scared anyone off though.... I learned my lesson with pacing though as I had the spins for the first time in a verrrrry long time. No fun there. I'm digging the drink upgrade though.
Anyway, after the show on Wed (it was a split week which means we hit two towns in the same week) I had to yank the Tiger fence back to make enough room to get my trailer out. Never a dull moment.
Then it was off to Beaumont, TX. And Beaumont was.....well......Beaumont was there.
I met a cool theater/choreographer gal at a coffeeshop but our schedules didn't align properly to hang out again. The shows there went well but the crowds were on sedatives or something and weren't very responsive.
After Beaumont, we had an 8hr drive to get to Hidalgo. The plan was to get through Houston and drive a little further then pack it in for the night and finish the drive in the morning. By the time Steve and I stopped though we were only 2 1/2 hours away so we decided to push on through. We rolled into the lot at about 6am. Set up the trailer and crashed around 7:30. Was back up at 9:00 when the power was ready and plugged in (I've gotten accustomed to having AC). Crashed back out until about 1:00 then headed up to McAllen (there is NOTHING in Hidalgo) to run errands with Steve and Brian.
We went to this Mexican restaurant and had the best Mexican food in the universe. We made a stop at Guitar Center and I picked up an Acoustic and got my O8 MIDI Controller for my laptop setup.
The timing for getting the gear is great since the show isn't a concern anymore and I need a hobby. I'm working on getting my calluses built back up shedding some Jeff Buckley tunes. I think all the singing in the car has helped because my range isn't that bad anymore and I probably have 75% pitch accuracy instead of the usual -500%.
That's about that. We are 3 miles from the Mexican border so if Steve ever calls me we're probably going to head over there and try not to get kidnapped or killed.
That is about it. If I would've updated regularly like a good little blogger I'm sure the stories would've been much more lush and full of funny side notes.
I'll try to remedy that moving forward.
I'll be visiting Pittsburgh at the end of the month since we have a week off between Mississippi dates so that will be good. Things really kind of hit in Beaumont. I miss everyone and the fact that there is always something awesome happening in Pittsburgh. If I don't get an 80s nite in soon I may snap.
Ta ta for now....
P.S. I am so sick of Texas and its stupid access roads......
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
.....
Seriously though.....Eduardo recently turned North and now we're (almost) right in the path. This is going to be interesting.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Hurricaninated!
So I guess there's a chance I might get EDUARDO'D tonight. I'll take a picture if a tiger comes crashing through my window....
Put a tiger in your tank
So I'm parked right alongside a curb to my left and an island curb in front of me. I woke up this morning to find my self blocked in from the right by a bunch of tigers. They don't seem to pleased with the situation either.
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