An Apology, Hoggies, my love for Fish (Town) and the small drinking town with a fishing problem that I am from.

Star-date 487689:

I would like to start off by saying a quick apology for my initial hostility toward the state of Tennessee. It was blind judgment. I also had forgotten about most of the drive to Johnson City the highway was beautiful, lush, green and windy. At times I felt like I was on a roller coaster. I would definitely suggest taking the ride on I-40. Its beautiful (but that still doesn't mean that I don't think you're a bitch, Tennessee).

So, the overnight to Philly was fairly uneventful. Except that there was a car parked with its lights off in the median in the middle of the night. Dubious behavior, I must say. Unfortunately, when you're tired, this sort of strange behavior doesn't run from you brain down through your nerve endings to your foot and to the brake pedal to slow you down to the posted speed limit. At first I thought I was hallucinating and reliving my days of the acid tests when I saw the blue lights in the rear view mirror but quickly deduced that it was the fuzz. I slammed down the clutch shifted into third and punched the accelerator. We had 107 miles to the boarder of Virginia and 106 miles of gas left in the tank to get away from the cop in a balls to the wall Hollywood style car chase in fissure black Virginia at 3am. I figured if I got going fast enough I would be able to coast the 1 mile of gas we didn't have over the boarder into Maryland to escape the government fund suckling pig's jurisdiction. This was the plan I formulated in my head, at least.

I went to push down the clutch and remember, with much disappointment, that Krista's car is an automatic. It was at that moment that I decided to give myself in and let him pin me for going 76 in a 65 zone. I refrained from my usual "fuck the police" and gratuitous hog noises that I usually make when I get pulled over (all 2 times) and decided to be even more bad-ass and be polite. I turned on the ol' charm, checked my mustache in the mirror and unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt and offered myself to him.

Ok... so that didn't happen either. I just pretty much said, "good evening officer. yes, I know I was speeding. We're on a musical tour. Coming from Nashville and going to Philadelphia. Thank you, sir. Have a good night." One of my biggest fears is getting pulled over in Virginia... but the officer was really nice and let us off without even a warning (it must have been the mustache). Then we were back on our way.

We arrived in Philly at we crashed like aeroplanes into Krista's friend Corina's ocean (or tower? too soon?) of a bed for a nice nap before our exploration of the city. I had never been to Philly before so I was very excited to explore the area... or at least some of it. We were staying in a place called Fishtown which is apparently a very tight knit neighborhood jammed with boxy road homes that lining very narrow streets which I felt should have been adorned with cobblestone. It reminded me very much of Chucktown and South Boston... which was nice to see. I could tell we were back in the north and close to home.
I found both of these places while I was trying to befriend a stray cat who obviously didn't have the same affection for me as I did it. The places where also right next to and directly across from Corina's house.

I was all ready to get myself a big greasy Philly cheese steak in my mouth (yes, she said it) when Krista informed me that we would be having some pizza for lunch. I was a bit skeptical at first because I had never heard anything about Philly pizza. Everyone hears a lot about New York pizza (which I personally think is overrated) its thin crust goodness, so I was surprised to hear that Philly boasts to also have the best pizza being in such proximity to NYC (99 miles to be exact, trust me, I google mapped it). My favorite pizza is still Little Stevies in Boston... granted, they were closed down for 14 health code violations there and they have kids running around and riding their toy bikes behind the counter and I've caught them cleaning out the inside of the pizza oven with the mop that they just cleaned the floor with... it gives it character. Its made with love (and shreds of mop, probably). Anywho, this Philly pizza... was... delicious! And HUGE also! I can usually eat a large pizza by myself when I'm starving (and I hadn't had anything anything to eat that day) but I could only eat... 4 of these slice... maybe 5.

Left: Krista displaying the "big as your face" pizza slice.

Right: Me eating the "big as yo face" pizza slice (does that mean my mouth is as big as someone's face?... well... I guess somewhere in the world... China is probably the best bet).






After eating it was about time to head out to the gig at World Cafe Live... which, I must say, was a pretty sweet venue. But not as sweet as getting to see my friends Ron (who I went to school with in NYC 2 years ago [and hadn't seen since then]) and Mallory (a young lady who I met this summer in Texas who goes to school in Philly). Ron and I always have a good time together talking about... well, really nothing but I still come out feeling like I've known the kid for a long time. He also rides a fixie now... so I got to ride that around for a bit. Which reminds me, the amount of bikes that are around Philly is pretty amazing. Anyway. Here are pictures of the show.



Left: The venue.

Right: Me in full douchebag rockstar mode and Krista ticklin' the ol' ivory. Oh, how that thing does chuckle.





We left Philly for Maine this morning at 6:30AM (after leaving the gig at about Midnight and meeting some incredible people) so that we could possibly beat the morning commute out of Philly and maybe miss the NYC one... we weren't so lucky with the latter. But somehow we made it and the excitement (for the both of us) of getting to Maine was almost life threatening. Probably some internal bleeding and definitely some uncontrollable bowel movements happens... for me, at least. I can't so much for Krista but she did have to deal with me after this. I got so excited I tried to take a picture while driving there car of the Maine greeting sign (there are like... 5 because we have so many mottos ["Maine: Vacationland" "Maine: The Way Life Should Be" "Maine: Where America's Day Begins" "Maine: Ya bettah wotch out when ya go down to th' hahbah or ya might getcha weinah nipped by one o' them lobstahs. but if ya were one o' them Massholes [someone from Massachusetts] that would be right stavin'").

Me taking the picture of the welcome to Maine sigh while driving.











Me also almost rear ending the car in front of me because I wasn't paying attention to the read because of the sign. Apparently, I took a picture when I panicked.










On our way up to the Mid-Coast it was decided that we needed to stop at L.L. Bean so we could 1. Do this:

Krista with the L.L. Bean Boot

And 2. get me a sleeping bag and a tent so that I can soon start my life as a worthless vagabond in Austin. More on this in a couple of months.

Now we're safely here at Carolane Acres where my mom filled us with a delicious dinner and deserts and we just got back from practice with the rest of the Loblolly Boys (who will be playing all of the New England dates with us). The songs are comin' out pretty rockin'. Alright, I'm tired. See you next time.

P.S.: Let me know what you think of the tour (b)logs... I know their a little messy (both writing and layout wise [I've been too lazy to us any HTML to organize tables or anything]) but any input would be great! I just hope you laugh.