Fear and Loathing on the Trail to
SXSW and back again - Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Back
-there has been fog and often thick
fog the entire way to Memphis so far.
-not a good sign all ready. Two thirds the way to Memphis from Nashville
and am already seeing shadows and objects that aren't there. It was inevitable that this would happen,
just alarming that its happening so soon.
Where will this end for me? Does
everything finally come home to roost? A
vicious rapture of retribution? Pulling
all my insecurities towards the heavens for all to judge, torturing me until
they are violently hurdled back towards my heart, killing me with a calm,
laughing, hissing demeanor my fears and insecurities. I've killed myself, abandoned self restraint
in the name of experiencing the real, unadulterated, authentic life, consumed
myself, death would be a release, a cowardly selfish shift of blame. 46 miles to Memphis.
-in Memphis, saw what looks like a
chain restaurant called Danver's. Do
beavers frequent this establishment? Do
beavers own this establishment? Did a
gregarious beaver named Dan start this restaurant and then franchise it out to
other beavers? What is Dan's
disposition? His philosophical outlook
on life and profit motive? Does he
support Obamacare? Who is this
beaver? Must we find him?
-at my friends beautiful home in
Memphis. I'm sitting at the gated
entrance of his home, which is impressive because I am already inside a gated
community. Its quote large and ornate. Luxurious.
Imposing.
-went to the Germantown Commissary
for diner. Had pulled pork and ribs with
BBQ beans tea and banana pudding. Quite
delicious
-had the peculiar experience of getting locked in a house and searching for a way out. The good Mrs. Underwood let me out.
-about 20 miles into Arkansas, and I
can honestly say the roads suck. So many
potholes and general dilapidation.
Arkansas you don't disappoint.
-just passed two semi trucks with
large loads off the side of the highway, both in the median. The were a few miles apart. And just as I'm writing this saw a red Chevy
impala in the median. There is small
amounts of snow on the ground, maybe that's throwing everyone off. Or these shit roads.
-I haven't seen a single speed limit
sign in Arkansas yet. Are people here
that illiterate?
-just sitting on the highway down to
one lane. Parked on the highway because
of routine construction. Fuck you
Arkansas. You make the routine and minor
into the excruciatingly incompetent.
Fuck you Arkansas.
-Just saw a billboard off the side of
the highway congratulating attractive blonde girl who is dressed in beauty
pageant atire, crown and sash. The sign
was congratulating her an East Arkansas Community College graduate, who later
became a Princeton scholar.
-one of the interesting things about
traveling through more rural areas, you see more people with flip phones.
-eating lunch in little rock at the
whole hog cafe. Got beef brisket, pulled
pork, and beans. They have six kinds of
BBQ sauce. I'm trying the volcano sauce,
you have to ask for it special from then counter. People who work here are all friendly. The volcano is very hit, but a hot
spicy. Very good.
-Can't really judge a place until
you've been there. Just now leaving
Little Rock Arkansas. Neat little city. Bigger more organized and cleaner than
I thought it would be. It's a nice little city. You could live there and do
alright. Much more modern I thought it would be. Very clean. Little Rock
Arkansas.
-somewhat unusual, just passed a rest
area with entry access lane from the left side of the highway.
-just saw a mile marker sign,
Friendship, AR, 8 miles. What a nice
state, minus the Klan.
-cool city/town names in
Arkansas. Arkadelphia and Texarkana.
-Arkansas from the highway is
beautiful. With the sun hitting the pine
trees and the red needles at their base.
Really lovely.
-75 miles an hour limit in Texas.
-saw someone carved their name and
Dayton Ohio in the clear plastic toilet paper dispenser in a men's bathroom
stall at a love's gas station a few miles into Texas from Arkansas.
-ate at Rustic in Dallas with a
friend. Had skirt steak. They had a wall of beer cans that made the
American flag.
-ate at mama's daughters' dinner in
Dallas. Ordering the Texas sized
breakfast with chicken fried steak. Also
tried a strawberry cream fried pie. They
seat you kind of family style anywhere there is an open seat. I'm sitting between two people with 5 different
party's of people at my table made for 8.
Plus in the seat to my right an elderly black lady's phone went off and
her ringtone was blurred lines by Robin thicke.
-Texas so far is really nice. Most
everything is new. Much newer than anything in Ohio. By that I mean any of the
3 big cities in Ohio. Dallas is really big. Less traffic than Atlanta. Quite a
nice place. Lots of restaurants. Kind of southern the with the way guys and
girls dress. I could live there.
-just saw two wild dogs running by
the side of the road
-passed a billboard for 'buc'ees'
wall of candy. It had a cartoon beaver
with buck teeth and a red hat.
-Austin is pretty cool. Sick Nightlife.
-at a party a guy gave me some
condoms coated with Astro glide.
-went to torchy's tacos. Got a trailer park, crossroads, and fried
avocado tacos. Tried an Austin brand
soda, Maine root - vanilla cream.
-went to SXSW Deloitte booth and saw
all the 3D printing. They printed
peoples’ busts. The cheapest ones are
$1299
.
-at SXSW gaming expo.
-saw a cheesecakery food truck
-not sure what is happening right
now. At swan dive, Russian polka is
playing and people are dancing like they are peyote. DJ Happy Happy James. Feel like I'm at a psychedelic flapper party. Girl with random whoolohoop dancing. Now he's playing dub step psychedelic Russian
poka, base is dropping. Now he's playing
a modified version of the soggy bottom boys with techno. The DJ then played an edm version of big rock
candy mountain. Saw a guy wearing google
glass, recording everything and everyone, what a dousch. The DJ is unique, perfect, all around swell.
-at flamingo, Reggie edm playing
right now.
-went to Shakespeare's.
-Trudy's texmex
-went to llamas Peruvian Creole food
truck. Tried Inca cola.
-played battle boxing bots. I won.
Pretty sick. So many random
things to do at SXSW.
-saw moon houch on the street
-parked in the 7th floor of the st.
Davids episcopal church garage. On 9th.
-ate at roppopplos pizza.
-interesting, everyone in line in
front of me is sitting down and everyone after me is standing up. I'm standing up. Not a single person standing in front of me
and not a single one behind me.
Hmmm? Do people imitate each
other? Socialized to conformity. What dies that say about me then?
-"rehearsals are for
pussys. Two takes then you're
done." - Robert Duvall.
-I've noticed a lot of blind people
at SXSW and Austin.
-ate at Stubb's BBQ in austin. Had a beef brisket taco and a pulled pork
taco with original stubb's sauce.
Despite the bottle, no black guys working there at all. Only Hispanic girls.
-went to 'open windows' at the Alamo
Ritz theatre. They have an ordering
system where you can order food, drinks, and alcohol during the show. Not bad.
Interesting experience.
-stole some posters off of the
pillars by the convention center.
-went to P Terry's burger stand. Some people hoped in a random car 2 go and
the people driving the car gave them a ride.
How Austin? Ordered a
cheeseburger, chicken burger, fries, peanut butter milkshake, and an ice tea.
-Casey neistat is so raw, very
genuine. Not worried about what people
think, uses a great deal of profanity.
Openly acknowledges what he doesn't know. Don't want to bother him for a picture. Don't want to turn him into an object or
trophy. He talked about his studio and
how he organizes it so that way he doesn't have to stop making a movie. He talked about the importance of starting
something, even if the idea isn't completely flushed out, get the rock filmed
and mold it in the studio. Sculpt what
you have into what you want. His make it
count video didn't have that many ideas.
The running segment was done in editing.
-interesting, at the q and a for
Kumiko the Treasure Hunter. People are
asking questions about the meaning of each scene and the film makers have just
said it felt right. They didn't have a
well thought out reason, maybe no big reason at all. Interesting, maybe we're reading in to things
too much.
-Eating at the magnolia cafe by the
lake. Ordered two fish tacos, chicken and egg, queso, peanut butter pie,
mocha coffee, and unsweetened lemonade.
Really cool place.
-hanging out at 2am at the peddle cab
hub/garage/junkyard. They have boxing
gloves.
-the room of the guy I'm staying in,
has a used rude of astro-glide on his desk.
Hmmmm....
-went to gourdough's big fat
donuts. Ordered the Mother clucker,
flying pig, mama's cakes, blue balls, baby rattler donuts and coffee and water.
Pretty cool place. Its in an old
airstream trailer. Their menu has to be
the most unique menu I've seen at a donut shop.
Cool mix of people, Mexicans, hipsters, and blond sorority girls. They are playing some soft romantic music, a
more Mello Rick ashtly kind of mix.
- out kayaking in Austin. A spectacular duck has been following me in
the water. He is primarily white with
black feathers on his body. He has shiny
green feathers on his back that radiate in the sun. He has a red head kind of like a chicken or
turkey. Incredible as I write this and
float. When my boat turned, he followed
like a dog. Its crazy being here in
Austin, in Texas. I remember being a kid
in my backyard in Ohio looking up at the blue summer sky and seeing planes land
and take off, imagining what Texas would be like. Its actually in a weird way that only a
general feeling or notion can express, what I imagined.
-saw 'wild canaries'. Sat next to an Australian girl. The movie was the premier. It was really funny.
-waiting to see the orwells at cheer
up charlies, they were cancelled because some car hit some people outside on
the street. The police are asking
everyone to leave, said we were part of a crime scene. A car came barreling through at 40 miles per
hour and around 25 people. Shit. Stayed to talk with some people. Seems like people needed to express
themselves.
-eating at Kirby lane cafe now. They have gluten free pancakes.
-at the Gatsby on 6th st. Pandora is sponsoring it with American
hustle, inside Llewellyn Davis, st. Ives and others. Giving away free sunglasses. Pretty cool
-been observing crowd dynamics this
week. Girls must have to listen to so
much nonsense and posturing from guys.
So many guys trying to sound interesting but end up talking bombastically
about nothing interesting, but you can see girls going along with it. Pretending to be learning about whatever the
guy is explaining to her, even though
they know what it is already. Or
pretending to be interested in the unoriginal opinion the guy is telling her. They almost have to pump up the guys.
-just went to see future
islands. Insane. May rival mutemath in terms of best concerts
I've been too. Got to shake hands, hug
him, and he touched heads with me while singing. Fucking awesome. People were up on stage. I ended up on stage. So much pushing. Incredible.
-in line at John Mueller's meat co in
Austin Texas. Its a food truck. Really cool downhome backyard
atmosphere. I'm getting the brisket.
-at the cherrywood coffee house. Trying a kombucha lime soda, ginger tea,
orange juice and an orange. I've come
down with a bit of a cold being outside the night of the car crash without a
jacket. Try to maintain. Hold out until Sunday afternoon. Got to maintain.
-American authors have taken 40
minutes to come on. Sound problems,
there have been sound problems throughout SXSW.
Third band that I have seen that has sound problems.
-well American authors only played
three songs. Great.
-the female frontgirl for London
grammar has an incredible voice. She's
also really hot in a classical way.
-Sam smith's concert is in a
church. St. Davids episcopal
church. Interesting SXSW, interesting
choice of venue.
-Saw a really fat women dressed as a
panda at Vance joy in st. Davids. Black
shirt, white sweater, panda rap around hat
-chancellor Warhol played to a small
but very passionate audience. At the
end, I got to shake his hand. Meet
Scotty the kid, rapper from la, st Warhol's showcase. He is really good friends with Warhol's
keyboard guy.
-went to a tinder and Pandora party.
-so many people peddling their demos
to people. So many handed out. One can see all these cds in the streets with
the rest of the rubbish, litter.
-someone just asked me where some
SXSW Thing was. That's the third or
fourth person. Does nerdy white guy with
glassed scream memorizes the map? He
probably knows all the technical details?
Stereotyping, tisk tisk. It would
be cool if it was fit girls asking, but sadly no. Have I become a festival insider? Has my carefully crafted persona worked? Nobody really knows what they are doing, only
acting. Where's my Oscar?
-at the Gatsby again, the portable
toilets have hand sanitizing dispensers inside. A pleasant surprise.
-while charging my phone at Gatsby, I
heard little daylight. They were great
live. Great surprise.
-sitting at cherrywood coffee house,
watching a hipster stair pensively through a window contemplating his hand
written poems.
-bought Texas flag board shorts at
Tyler's.
-eating at salty sow. Had beef shoulder. And triple fried duck fat fries.
-at the magnolia café again. Talked to the waiter, he us waiting tables
while he writes his book, which is almost finished. He moved to Mexico in 2008. Pretty cool.
-just finished eating at the magnolia
café. It was so good. I didn't realize how much food I ate. I'm in pain.
Belly swollen, I feel miserable, it was so good though. Why did I eat that much? Fuck me.
-I'm driving on a rural dirt road in
central Texas, towards Lockhart. Lots of rusty oil wells/pumps pumping away.
-tying to find black's BBQ in
Lockhart Texas. Crazy town with fun down
hoovervilleesque homes, some with expensive boats in the back. Completely esoteric. Seems built only for those in the know, towns
people. Good way to keep out and confuse
outsiders, me.
-finally found black's BBQ in
Lockhart, Texas. Bought brisket and
sausage, and BBQ sauce. They gave me a
tour of their smoker with two Germans who had set up a BBQ restaurant in
Germany. They we're going all over Texas
on a BBQ tour of Texas. Nice guys,
complained about the lack of quality meat in Europe. great place.
Apparently Lockhart is the BBQ capital of the us and Texas.
-I've spotted the beaver again! Buc-ee the beaver. He owns a store and gas station. Going in to investigate.
-wow, I mean wow, my mind has been
blown. Buc-ee's is incredible. A Willy wonkas factory for roadside
stores. They have Texas apparel, regular
apparel, sporting goods(fishing, duck hunting, etc), a Texas meat station,
grocery, multiple food stations, and a buc-ee's memorabilia store that has
their adorable beaver in stuffed animals, t-shirts, tanks' magnets, stickers,
lapel pins, hats, and so much more. I
bought a few. And the bathroom, hands
down the best public restroom I've come across by a highway. Immaculately clean. Individual alcoves for urinals, individual
alcoves with thick doors for toilets, I mean these were not stalls, but more
permanent and better. Lone stars
decorated the walls individually. More
than ample amounts of sinks with fully stocked, clean automatically dispensing
soap and two automatic paper towl dispensers per sink. No lines.
A model of cleaness and efficiency.
The American dream is alive and well in Texas, it has inhabited the form
of a disarmingly wily beaver. This
beaver is it, he is the 21st century pioneer.
We must import and support more beavers if we are to catch the
Chinese. Buc-ee's incredible.
-The drive from Austin to Houston
isn't that bad. There are lots of exits
in mostly cows and farmland. A lot of
trees comparatively to Kansas, but not like ohio or another Midwestern state. A few Palm trees but very sparingly. Some
decent farmland. Not exactly heavily populated, but a far cry from nothing is
well.
-Houston is massive. Also there are no zoning laws in
Houston. So I saw a store that only
sells light bulbs, a sex toy and clothing shop, burger king, Thai restaurant, jewelry store, upscale apartment
complex, and the most exclusive restaurant in Houston all next to each other.
-went to anvil in Houston got a
Boston flip, rye whisky an egg and cinnamon.
It was incredibly delicious.
-eating outside at a
coffee/restaurant in Houston called Brazil.
Pretty cool paintings they have on the walls. One is of Lyndon Johnson, probably pre
Vietnam because he's happy and unstressed in the picture. Pretty upscale hipster.
-ar Galveston island state park right
now. Its absolutely beautiful. Galveston island in general is very
commercialized. The beaches aren't like
the panhandle of Florida, but they are nice enough. If I lived in Houston, I would have to buy a
home here to escape the city. It would
be great to get away for the weekend.
Beautiful on the island. In march
its not too hot either, a little chilly with the wind actually. You can have camp fires in Galveston island
state park.
-being out here in Galveston island
state park reminds me of Charleston falls in Ohio. In a metaphysical notion/feeling/emotion kind
of way. The birds here have the same
cadence that they do in Charleston falls.
Unifying nature. The birds
churning and water among the estuaries here takes me back.
-I'm walking the beach of Galveston
island state park and am seeing a great deal of dead fish. About one every ten feet.
-drove past a field of cows on
Galveston island, not too far from a really commercialized area. I guess you can't take the Texas out of a
resort island.
-I'm at a route 66 gas station on
Galveston island. The gas pump is by far
and away the slowest I have ever encountered.
Its been 7 minutes and its pumped 2.2 gallons. Come on.
And further more I'm nowhere near route 66. Get it together.
-I keep getting lost in the giant
maze of an apartment complex that my friend lives in. The hall ways all look the same and their are
no signs other than a few exit lamps.
Its dizzying. Metaphor for
Houston.
-just saw a dead beaver on the side
of the road. Miles inland in Texas.
-in Brazos bend state park. Trying to find alligators. I'm really jumpy. At elm lake so many birds making calls,
making sudden movements. I'm on high
alert. I'm not as fast as I use to be.
-I'm currently driving North from
Houston imports Dallas. Traffic has been
unpleasant but not terrible. Four lanes
going each way. Driving about 15 miles
per hour right now. That was picking up
to normal speed. The traffic in Houston entire time I've been here really hasn't
been that bad, relative to what I thought it would be.
-I've been driving for half an hour
on 45 North towards Dallas. I haven't
been able to go about 50 miles per hour on the highway so far. Just alternating between points of stoppage/
traveling less than 20 miles per hour and a few small patches where one can go
40 miles per hour for a limited amount of time. Maybe this is what the traffic
in Houston is supposed to be about. I can't believe its this congested with
cars this far outside the city. They need more lanes.
-The Houston area of Texas looks a
bit like Florida. Similar trees. Palm trees but not as many as down in Florida.
Similar humid climates. Although the
human development in the Houston area of Texas more closely resembles Southern
California. A bit like Los Angeles in
Florida, but more concise and as they packed than Los Angeles. And friendlier.
But interesting place.
-just passed a huge white statue by
the highway. Probably of Sam
Houston. Looked like it was made of
paper Mache.
-So far the drive from Houston to
Dallas has been very green. Green grass
lots of green trees. Map of thick trees you find in Ohio in the Midwest. But
taller thinner dry trees. But lots of green tree is the nonetheless.
-Just saw an interesting billboard by
the side of the highway. It was a comic
book style cartoon scene. With a woman
gas thing in fear, sang real Texas burger.
And a cowboy looking on at her, saying Nolan Ryan beef.
-Just passed a highway overpass.
Sitting on a barricade underneath the overpass. Was a guy just seem to be
hanging out. Dangling his feet over the
barricade watching the cars go by. Blue jeans white blue jeans, Brown orange T
shirts, baseball cap. What was he
contemplating? Why was that spot the
best spot for him? Does he enjoy the thrill being close to danger? Is the
border discontent this rule Texas life? Does he want to go faster? Is this why
he puts himself so close the car is traveling at 75 miles per hour? So close to
speed and little are the edge, of the highway.
I wonder if being in this position heightens his senses, and perhaps put
it in a better state to think. Or to
think in a more time sensitive saving way.
What is in store for this man?
-Listening to know nelo's 1st
album. So good. Listening to it while driving across Texas
their home state. Driving from Houston
where they were founded. Very cool.
-at the bird cafe in ft. Worth,
Texas. Eating out on the patio. Quite nice, have a view of downtown ft.
Worth. Ordered the pumpkin and coconut
soup. Also ordered the one eyed jack
which is Nueske's bacon, duroc pit ham, Tillamook cheddar, jalapeno cheddar
bread, and a nested egg. Also a carrot
and root mash.
-ft. Worth is like a smaller, much
less posh, fatter, whiter version of Dallas.
As if people have accepted their limitations and lot in life and have
plateaued. They are just going to keep
doing the same basic lifestyle for the rest of their lives. Has a religious community quality to it like
people who justified their lack of success with religion and the poor/slave
morality. Its ok, because in their minds
their lack of success is more religious.
And they keep Dallas close to remind them. I've seen so many fat people in the bird
café. They are playing a southern female
acoustic cover to bee gees songs here.
How deep is your love, interesting choice for a lunch time crowd. The guy sitting across from me, is decked out
in full investment banking attire.
Except for brown and red cowboy boots.
Goes well with the blue blazer and pocket square, pretty awesome.
-just walked past a brooding,
downtrodden looking hipster eating alone at a cafe starring forlornly out the
window wearing a knit cap even though its 75 degrees out, really hot. Disillusionment with society seems to be
universal across the US.
-about an hour outside of Dallas,
preparing to make the long, desperate sprint to Nashville. Harboring a week long cold and four hours of
sleep. Let the fun begin. Armed with a few political podcasts and 9
year old iPod, and the Arkansas scenery.
I'll try to enjoy the slow, inevitable descent over the edge.
-just stopped at a road runner gas
station right inside Arkansas. Pretty
modern and clean. Much better mascot
than the big three. They are playing fox
news and extra in the screen at road runner.
Arkansas. Road runner also has a
kids section. The elderly lady at the
counter became frustrated and actually said "fiddle sticks."
.Just saw a billboard up the side of
the highway. It was for Worthington
National Bank. It said them Wall
Street..... Us Main Street.
-I've just passed 3 separate semi
trucks that were carrying several cars stopped at different intervals by the
police. Each one about a mile or 2
apart. The police were checking the
interior of the vehicles being carried by the semis. Each of the drivers the semis looked
Hispanic. People smuggling on the road
to Memphis?
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