Memphis… same as last night, bar after bar after bar… a slick and disposable live band…. playing blues… I stopped in one and sat for awhile… just sat and watched and listened and drifted and lost track of time… but in the end, it feels exactly the same as Nashville… and no Elvis sweat…

Nashville…..
Cruising down the Broadway strip… like a little Vegas… bright lights and the annoying chaos of tourists clogging up the sidewalks… and every bar after bar, next to every bar, has its own live band playing its own disposable country music… each one slicker than the last…. at the very end of the street, there was quite a crowd of commotion swarming at the big something-something arena… ticket scalpers were everywhere…. I was curious, but not curious enough to go see what all the fuss was about… later, I found out Bruce Springsteen was playing… it seemed so un-Nashville-like…

I couldn’t be distracted… I was on a mission…. to try to find me some ‘Elvis Sweat’…. a novelty gag gift that was made years ago… every person i asked in every shop along the street had the same confused, perplexed then amused, look on their face…. followed by the same slow, drawly, “You want WHAAAT?”

Kentucky…. again… I am a little washed out… some days, the long drives can be wearing and tedious, without much to look at except for more of the wide open space. I sat this morning in a Waffle House (scrambled eggs around melted cheese, biscuits and gravy), getting seduced by the waitresses’ chatter in their sloooooow Kentucky drawl.

The waitress in my station had a boyfriend drop into the booth in front of me. She kept coming over to him, cleaning the tables and checking the sugar levels, and wiping glasses down at his table, trying to be near him. They were completely silent, and he tried to look busy drinking his free Coke… while they were staring long stares and speaking a million words without moving their mouths. They must have spent last night together and she had been working her shift since she left him sleeping in bed. I couldn’t help marveling at their young, awkward trance and secret love language.

Johnson City, TN……. a good set tonight… seemed like it was winning. I keep finding new souls and deep hearts I want to explore and dive into, and then, I have to shoot off immediately to get on the road… there’s no time for dillying or dallying and I miss the open-ended-ness of being in some distant exotic country where you don’t have to worry about getting somewhere… still, time means little here, but it’s just not the same when you have to rip yourself away to get to the next town. I am a spinning top among the daybreakers and idle tea totallers and night-swimming beer enthusiasts escaping their lives…

New York….. I get a couple days off from shows and driving… it feels good to be out walking on my feet…

On my way uptown to visit Joe at the karaoke BBQ joint, as I was stepping onto the train station platform, right in front of me about 8 feet away, I walked straight into the action… of a guy swinging through, Popeye style, fully clocking another guy square in the jaw. RIGHT IN FRONT ME.

The guy who got hit didn’t even try to block it and fell backwards without putting his hands out to break the fall… he just fell back on the ground and laid there stiff and paralyzed for a couple minutes. His eyes were wide open, with a look of Christmas morning astonishment and disbelief… didn’t look around to anyone for help, just stared to the ceiling and laid there in a trance… some people started gathering around, then he just got up and walked away.

When I got to my stop uptown, I came out on Broadway Ave…. asked a couple girls walking past me for some helpful directions. They just kept walking… I continued talking to them kindly as they got further and further away, as if we were all in the same conversation…. when they reached the corner, without turning around, in New York chic fashion, they both flipped me off. As if they had rehearsed it. Both lighting up their birds over their shoulder. I thanked them… and New York.

Later, on my way back, it was 2am, I was waiting for my subway train… one of the workers was blasting a power water gun, cleaning the platform area… another worker was sweeping the sprayed areas…. it was so late and ghost town-like, we were the only three out there….. the water gun lady apparently needed to blast the area where I was standing, and yelled out to the sweeper lady, “Hey! Tell that girl to move!”

Goodnight, New York.

Lincoln, NE….. played a show with Sas and Sean tonight. They’ve also graciously taken me in for food and shelter and it is the perfect, easy getaway. Time does stand still here. I have lost track of the days and hours… and their trees and ground are smothered in bright yellow and orange. I haven’t seen this phenomenon in years and years. I think it’s called Fall.

I escaped Denver today, just as they were getting 24 inches of snow dumped on them. Literally, watching the snow flakes come down in my rear view mirror… I am hoping this trend will continue… me outrunning the storm. Onward to the great plains of Nebraska… flat and wide… colorless… without any memorable taste… no show tonight, just a long day for driving… I don’t enjoy these days. There’s no payoff. It’s just a chore that has to be done…. with no scenery…

Denver, CO
I made it back through the Rockies… barely… I guess I am tempting fate, zig-zagging back and forth like this… the snow started really coming down just as I was coming out of the pass on the other side. Tonight was a jam-packed, sold out show with the Subdudes. Some people got it. Some people did not and missed it completely. Weird how that happens sometimes. I suppose it’s like any cult leader… you have to let the message of love go out… and realize that there may be a number of folks who will not understand. They may be deaf or too broken or too drunk to hear. You can’t save everyone.

After a difficult night, it makes a huge difference knowing I’ll be crashing into a giant, soft, perfect bed. It’s not home, but there is this luxurious bliss feeling when the door of your hotel closes behind you and, for one night at least, there is peace and quiet and a vacuum-sealed silence.

When I got to the hotel tonight, they had no reservation listed for me. After cross-checking with all my supposed confirmation numbers, they finally figured it all out and found my reservation… for the previous night. I somehow reserved (and paid for) the wrong night! This is a big deal at 1am…

It took Doug (the hotel concierge) 3 seconds to declare, “I am so sorry, normally we are not able to change reservations, but tonight I can sneak you in another room.”

What could have been a giant miserable catastrophe, and me getting pushed out in to the cold streets (or into my car) for the night, was instantly saved by a merciful, quick thinking, right-headed, late-night concierge … Amazing! Thank you Mr. Doug, and thank you Crowne Plaza Hotel. You have my lifelong allegiance and I will happily be your celebrity spokesmodel in all your tv commercials.