Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Adventure #65: Hattiesburg, Mississippi


Here's what my days look like on tour:
  • 3 hours of writing
  • 6 hours of driving
  • 2 hours of adventuring
  • 1 hour of setting up for the show
  • 1 hour of sitting around the venue and waiting pretending not to be an awkward turtle
  • 3 hours of playing the show
  • 1 hour of packing up
  • 3 hours of drinking with my new friends
The remaining 5 hours get divided between food and sleep as physical needs dictate. Seeing as I'd shortsightedly stolen two extra hours the night before for additional drinking and sleep, I found myself having to cut out adventuring entirely. But time zones! Oh time zones! I could keep track of these things and remember where they go, but I prefer to think of that extra hour as a bonus given to me by the earth's rotation. Solipsism: I make the world go round. Suddenly I found myself in Alabama with an unexpected extra hour, so I did what I always do and looked for a brown sign indicating something interesting. Around Tuscaloosa I passed a sign for a state park. Hiking it is today! This is Pen Pen not caring that he could use this extra time to get caught up with more writing projects (right).


Unlike South Carolina, there was no snow. Barely any indication of winter beyond the light chill and empty gazebos and picnic benches. Or maybe that's just how Alabama winters roll. I walked through the woods along a placid lake to a small beach front where broken signs and empty bottles betrayed the neglect of winter. You know the first time you see the docks in the village in Lost? It was like that basically but with less unexplained polar bears and confusing time travel plot holes. This is Pen Pen pretty sure the smoke monster destroyed the sign though.


I got to the venue around 9 and it was dead. Deadly dead. Fairly confident that my unprecedented string of good shows was about to come to an end, I puttered around for a bit. Should we just call it a night? “Let's wait a bit,” Heath, the owner said. “I've got some folks coming down soon.” Slowly the bar filled up. Not bad for a Tuesday in Hattiesburg Mississippi. As I pulled out a harmonica, this girl Leigh shouted out “Do you know Piano Man? I just learned the harmonica part!” Sure. Why not? So she stepped up and joined me for it. I can never remember the words. Neither did she. It was great. After the show, pretty much the whole crowd ended up at Amanda's house (her roommates were not pleased). We stayed up til 5 (which is really 6) singing and generally pissing off Amanda's roommates. Can't wait to come back to Haittiesburg. This is starting to become a trend. Looks like June will be a busy month. This is Pen Pen standing on top of a mountain not changing position for like 10 episodes while basically nothing else ever happens.


This is a song I wrote one time. You should download it and share with your friends.

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