Arriving in Atlanta

I woke up and Ben's house and he took me to get some food at Fido and then dropped me off at the Greyhound station. I was on my way to Atlanta, back to the East Coast, which was kind of bumming me out, as New York was getting closer and my epic trip was drawing to a close.
I made it to the ATL around 9 and Stephanie, a friend of a friend I had never met before, picked me up at the Greyhound station and brought me back to the awesome warehouse space that she lived in with a bunch of other punks.


I settled in and Stephanie got ready and then we went out on the town. The first place she took me was called Star Community Bar, and there was a karaoke night going on. I sang a song, of course, and had some drinks. Then the best thing ever happened: some random dude I had never seen before tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a business card that had the message "Call me in 10 minutes" written on the back of it, and then walked out before I could get a good look at him. Now, I'm sure that it was just a cheesy attempt at a pickup, but I kind of like to pretend he was about to involve me in some crazy film noir bull shit.


The rest of the night got a little crazy. I had heard that Ex Humans and Foster Care were hanging out at The Clermont Lounge, a dive bar/seedy strip club that's also apparently a totally normal place for people to hang out in Atlanta? I had never been to a strip club before and it was a total trip. The strippers were mostly older, unattractive women, and since it was December most of them had some kind of Christmas theme to their outfits. I hung out and talked to friends, and eventually Patrick from Foster Care insisted on buying me a lap dance... so I had that happen.
Eventually, Stephanie and a friend of hers whisked me away to Southern Comfort, a truck stop bar a few miles out of town... it was insane.


Atlanta is weird.

Nashy Trashy- Day 1

Even though I spent a fair amount of the long bus ride from Austin to Nashville crying and missing Mike in Austin (hey, shut up, I'm lame I know), at least I knew I was heading to one of my favorite places in the country: Nashville, Tennessee. I had gotten to know Nashville through a burgeoning friendship with Ben Todd (of Nashville's Dead) that started when I saw Natural Child at CMJ 2009.
I eventually arrived and Ben took me up and brought me back to Glenn Danzig's House, the cool show house he lives at.

Ben had band practice for D. Watusi so I kind of napped and moped until it was time for the show that was there that night. The show was going to be Ex Humans and Foster Care (who I know from Brooklyn and had run into already in Austin) along with Nashville bands Natural Child, Cy Barkley, and Cannomen.
I wasn't in the best mood, but talking to Patrick from Foster Care about how it's normal to get bummed out on a long trip made me feel better and I started having a bit of fun.







After the show we all hopped in cars and headed out to a Christmas party. It was fun and booze filled and things got a little whacky.




I got tired, along with a few members of Foster Care, and we went back to Glenn Danzig's and ate Burger King onion rings. Good times.

Shut up Austin- Pt 3

Okay... before I go any further let me just say that I was only planning on Austin for 2 or 3 days, like every other city... but ended up staying there for 6... and it wasn't because of how much I liked the barbecue... I had a really, really great, unforgettable time in Austin, and did lots of fun things and had lots of fun times etc, etc...
Anyway, the next morning we woke up and Mike, Victor and I walked to a taco stand right near their house to get tacos. I got one barbacoa and one carnitas. They were good.

Then I got dropped off at my home away from home away from home (Epoch Coffee) to do some writing while Mike and Victor and Alba paid some billllz and shit...

Then Victor went to work and Mike, Alba and I went to get some brisket.

Later that night, two bands I knew from New York, Ex Humans and Foster Care were playing at Beerland so Mike and I headed down there. I ran into my buddies and met some of Mike's friends and blah blah blah show stuff.








After the show, we went back to Mike's house and his friend Ryan Foster (of Total Abuse fame) over and we hung out and drank beerz. Mike told me about an amazing thing that I had never heard of before... Caveman starring Ringo Starr... a really crappy movie in which he deals with the slapstick adventures of being a caveman? There's also a slapstick attempted rape scene? It's kind of like the beginning of the Michael Cera/Jack Black romp Year One.