The Trip: Day 2

It was a positively wonderful day. The weather was a nice 70°. The sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue. I woke up and headed towards Commanders Palace for brunch. 

Well, you can't get in with a T-shirt on.

The couple in front of me were pointed towards a cafe called Coquette just down the road so I tagged myself on with them and we sat at the bar. They didn't stay for a meal, but it was as good a place as any so I ordered myself a Bloody Mary and some Foie Gras Doudin Blanc and had a delightful breakfast.

I filmed the restaurant and my new friends from Florida, and asked one of the bartenders to mix a drink in front of me. He mixed a signature drink and gave it to me free of charge!

After brunch, I passed through the streets and admired the houses, took a stroll through one of the cemeteries and just meandered around.

I decided I wanted to do something else so I hopped in the car and drove to the Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival. Few things could be better than planning a trip to a city and finding out about a Blues and BBQ festival you hadn't even planned on seeing. Met up with Kendal Rowe and snagged a spicy BBQ poboy. It was delicious but short lived. I should have eaten more of them!

Vasti Jackson rocked the crowds blues soul with his majestic guitar licks, even working his way through the crowd with all of us. I filmed quite a bit with my GoPro before I decided to give him my undivided attention, and not a moment to late as a security guy came through looking for me and my gopro. "NO FILMING" he glared at the man next to me. I chose that moment to slink back into the crowd.

I wanted some rest and retired back to Faith's apartment for a siesta. I meant to go back out but instead decided to save money by sitting around and eating beef jerky in my underwear.

As 8 o'clock rolled around, I skipped down the street to the Allways Theatre and took an hour lesson of Charleston. At 9, The Toddy and His Fully Dressed Poboys swing some tunes at our ears as all manner of individuals jittered and jived around the slick, well worn wood floor.  It was a sight to behold and, while similar to all my friends in Nashville, there something infectious about this city. The music has a certain sound and feel that brings out this sense of yesterday. As if you permeated time and no one seemed to be bothered because the music is timeless and everyone just wants to move.

I danced with Becca, Steph, and Jennifer(an actress moved to New Orleans from LA. Small world)  Katrina (An unfortunate name to own in this city) was also vivacious and alive that night. She was taking it all in, on Holiday from New Zealand. She had a zest for life about her and was one of the highlights of the evening. She was energized by all the dancers and wanted to be part of it all, so we danced some freshly learned Charleston and listened to the music.  She was also in need of a cab. I snagged a cab number for her and said goodbye, then I headed home.  

As far as I can tell. If you live in New Orleans, you can get away with anything. The culture is different and the clothes go with that. In Nashville every one is "in a band".  There is a certain style of clothing that exists in Nashville, a color scheme of dull grays and dark blues that tends to be close to normal there.  Here everyone is outlandishly styled. The only overall encompassing style is one of over-the-topness.  Flapper dresses and feathers in the hair.  Tattoos, skulls, fancy hats and suspenders. It's such a vibrant city and the music I feel is the contributing force.

The music is an absolutely wonderful change of pace to the omnipresent "Bro-country" permeating Nashville's bars.  I went out last night and didn't hear "Sweet Home Alabama" once (or the common 6 times as happens in Nashville). Some may argue I wasn't going to the right bars in Nashville, and there are plenty of great bands all around Nashville playing all manner of music, but Blues and Jazz never sounded so sweet to my ears.  The music is enchanting and you can't help but get involved with it and the people around you. On my travels already 

I can tell that this will be a difficulty city to top. 

 Might as well start on a strong note when it comes to trips.  Glad New Orleans is delivering.

The Trip: Day 1

Leaving isn't an easy thing to do, but I set a date, and I left.  Needed to say my goodbyes first though!

and of course get a good group shot.

There is only so much a satellite radio can do to satisfy a hungry brain.  The road droning on and on in front of you,the radio droning on and on in your ears, and the utter silence from Bill Murray, my pepper plant, was enough to make a man go crazy.  All of a sudden you start thinking about rand things. Like that armadillo I saw.

"An armadillo!  It's dead... that sucks. For him at least, not me.  Weird.  They look so funky.  I didn't even know we had armadillos in TN."

The thoughts continued, but I won't.

The trip seems so surreal. It hasn't dawned on me that I've left home.  It feels like a vacation.  It should feel like something more, but right now it just feels like I'm going.  Moving, thinking, having fun.  Being happy. Happy is good, but strange given the circumstances.  Faith tells me it'l hit me when I get situated in LA.

Speaking of Faith, here she is, and her scenic apartment is underneath.  Nothing says good neighborhood like barbed wire and dangling handcuffs!

Bill and I situated ourselves and started to relax. Drank a little libations offered us by our gracious host and then hit the town to get some Pho.  Pho is a delicious Vietnamese soup and I had always wanted to try it, so we got it from MoPhos!  Rebecca joined us for dinner then we met up with some others for a few bars here and there.

 Rebecca mopped up the pool table as Faith discussed the semantics of gender neutrality and home ownership (not necessarily related) and I whispered sweet nothings into my NOLA Blonde and a local IPA.


Shortly there after we headed home and killed the rest of the previous libations previously brought forth by our host. After a bit Rebecca parted ways for the comfort of her own bed and Faith and I were left to discuss all manner of different topics on her front stoop.

As our night seemed to be winding down, Faith's neighbor poked his head out from the gate with the previously show dangling handcuffs and, in the most legitimate yet unfailingly shady way, informed us we could receive free tattoos if we come over to his apartment.

Naturally, we went. 

Jack Daniels came too!  

As the first member of their crew got off the bench of these budding tattoo artists studio, the word "JAH" eloquently needled onto his skin, we settled onto the couch.  Faith seemed gung-ho to try her hand at a free tattoo (the needles and ink were newly opened and changed after each tattoo).

As the buzz of the needle punctured her arm, I sat with the bottle of Jack next to a large, hairy Norwegian man with a beard and our newly tattooed "JAH" friend.  The DJ, a girl from Spain, was spinning reggae music on vinyl as the other member of our gang hunted the internet for a good picture of Bart Simpson "crushing an awesome trick".

Faith's tattoo complete, she showed her beaming face over her newly received tattoo reading the word "also".  She's the proud owner of a new tattoo. You'd need to ask her what it meant.

As fun as it all was, when they began insisting I get one, I decided it was time to leave my new friends and head back to Faith's for some well deserved sleep.

First day of the trip and I think its going great!

Who knows what is in store for tomorrow!?

The Trip: The Plan

I'm grabbing all my things, I'm organizing them into boxes and bags, and I'm pacing around my house nervously.  Bill Murray, my pepper plant, is coming with me.

My Trip goes as follows:

Nashville to New Orleans

New Orleans to Austin, TX

Austin, TX to Roswell, NM

Roswell, NM to The Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park to Las Vegas

Las Vegas to Las Angeles, California

I'll be visiting all these cities and friends within them and be having an all around good time in each place!

Dancing and Drinking in New Orleans,  checking out the Brewing Scene in Austin, TX, and hunting for aliens all night is Roswell.

The end goal, land myself out in LA unharmed and ready to get to work apartment hunting.  I'll be there to stay!

Wish me luck, and stay tuned.  I'll be posting here as well as on my other social media sites to keep you informed of my travels and all the fun stuff I get into along the way!

As an added bonus, I'll be filming the entire trip on my two cameras and posting those once I'm out in LA!  Stay tuned for fun!

See you on the other side.

Homebrewing is a Hobby of Mine

I love beer.

I brew beer.

I've brewed a good beer.

This is the label for the beer I brewed.

I'd give you the recipe for this beer, but then I'd have to kill all you copy cats out there, and I don't want to do that. 

However, to describe this beer to you would be more than accepatable, it would be propper.

So I have been hunting for a style of beer that would allow me to combine my two favorite things on this earth.

Beer...

and Pineapple

I suppose a year ago now I cam home and tasted, just once, a beer Jackalope Brewing Company, here in Nashville, made.  It was called "Casper the Friendly Gose".

I tasted that beer and I said, "This is it. This is the style!"  And I knew that Pineapple and the "Gose" style of beer would be the perfect match.

"Gose" style of beer is derived from German roots and is a soured, salted beer.  The acidity of the beer is what brought my attention to it's Pineapple favoring qualities, and it's light, generally hazy body would allow the pineapple to be present and visible.  I was in love.

I got to brewing, brewed a test batch, reworked the recipe, then brewed another batch and let people try it.  It is a big hit, and I'm awful proud of myself.  Mostly, I am just thrilled I get to drink pineapple beer!

I've just finished batch 3 of the Pineapple Gose, and I figured it was time to name it.  

SO!!! As you can see, I did.  I'm not sure if this name will stick, but for now I've put a whole lot of time and effort into the label, which I will be printing out for bottling, and I figure its as good a name as any until (if/when) its time for a name change.

Maybe you'll get to try some before the summer is out, but, if not, its only a bit of winter before we get to brew it again!

Where in the World Have I Been?

There is plenty to talk about!

Plenty to show you, tell you.  Plenty of excuses I can come up with as to why I've not posted anything in so long.

The best I got is that life happened!  I love to film stuff, that is a truth.  I don't so much like editing.  It is a time consuming thing.  I just want to be in film. I just want to be out there doing stuff!  I don't want to spend a day editing this stuff together for a 3-5 minute video.  I'm sure some would scoff. "A whole day?" they would say.

YES, a whole damn day.  I'm learning on my own.  I should spend some time and learn how to expedite that process, but I haven't. So a whole day must be devoted to editing that film together for y'alls enjoyment.

Well, the sun is out.

I'd rather be outside.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRPaqCjClFg

^^^(Its bigger and better here)^^^

 

Jobless...ness and the WORLD OF TOMORROW!

It is a difficult thing going from "employed" to "unemployed".  Initially, you have your doubts about your plans, swiftly followed by some other facet of your life quickly and needlessly slipping out from under your feet.  You realize you were never truly on stable ground, then panic sets in.

After that first day, you start to get your bearings again and, if you're competent and interested in actually finding a new job, you start the arduous process of slinging your resume at the faces of every single store owner/manager in your general vicinity.

It's like a gauntlet of "No" and "Sorry".  It is so much worse than an audition.

In theatre/film, if they say no, there could be 1 million reasons!  You won't mix well with the cast, they've already cast the show, you were having a bad day, whatever.  The important thing is, if you act, your job is to handle rejection and throw yourself out there to be rejected again.  The fun part isn't your job, your job is auditioning.

When looking for a job, you don't generally have a time slot to come in at, no one really wants to help you get that job if they already work there, if you want to find a job to bartend, you're absolutely fucked (it appears), and rejection, even if they ARE hiring, is literally all about YOU.  YOU are the reason they didn't hire YOU because they DO NOT like YOU.

That's rough.

I think the issue I'm having now, though, is that I'm enjoying these free days.  I like being able to wake up at 9am and mosey about my house for a bit.  Get my wits together, read the paper, grab a snack, and then head out to do whatever it is I need to.  I can work on my own projects, learn lines, and then grab a beer with my brother or someone who is off that particular day.  I need the money most certainly, but having a bit of time to recuperate is like... this is like a makeshift vacation!

It's dangerous enjoying unemployment.  I dunno if I'll go back to being employed...

p.s. please hire me.

You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We Had

Bowling feels to be a dying activity.  No one really talks about it anymore.  That being said, I want to know one person who has been bowling and didn't have a good time.  I'm not asking if you "like" going bowling, I'm saying you have fun when you do, no matter what.

Everyone has fun bowling. Everyone.

Bowling is just one of those things you never really think about on a day to day basis if you don't belong to a league.  Lots of people, especially on Wednesdays at Strike and Spare connected to circus world, play in a league, and it's all in good fun.  But, if you're part of the common rabble, such as myself, you don't ever really dream up going bowling often enough.

That was not this day.  A good friend, Lauren, and I headed off to go bowling. Sadly, as mentioned, Wednesdays are league nights and we were excommunicated from all the lanes until late that night. We needed something to do until it was our turn to throw some frames and we did what any self respecting adults would do.  We went into the play place.

OH, THE SIGHTS!

THE SOUNDS!

THE SMELLS OF CIRCUS WORLD!

Glow golf was good (put-put golf with black lights), and my ankles (and pride) took a beating while we glided gracefully around our own personal skating rink, but the arcade was our true prize.


I did not disappoint with my skills at hand-eye coordination games! I slew myself a dragon in a quarter shooting catapult game. (Those hand-eye games are my niche, I must say)
Lauren dismantled reality with her skills on the Claw Machine.  She was 2 for 2 on prizes won in those claw machines.  Basically the people working there had to close down shop before we won all their prizes!


We had a whole lot of fun running around, and it was a refreshing change of pace from the usual twenty-something plan of "Let's go to this bar" or "Let's go to that bar".  I'm not saying I don't enjoy going to bars, quite the reverse!  I'm just glad there are people out there who enjoy silly things enough to give them a chance.  I'm glad to see that creativity has not been lost, and that, if you simply look, there are more things out there than you can possibly dream up!


There is always something going on in your city, you just need to be open to suggestions and a little creative in where you look.  Bands playing, bars serving drinks, and even a few frames of bowling simply waiting to be had.  Keeping an open mind is what gets you out there, the fun will come as long as you let it!

FUN: Guaranteed to happen if you let it.

YOUTUBE LINK