Publix is selling dry ice. That surprises me, as it is a fairly dangerous substance. Then again, they sell gasoline to functional retards and other civil servants in this town. Anyway, last I heard it was solid at minus 106 degrees or thereabouts. That may be the temporary solution to keeping food here, as a Styrofoam cooler is around $5 bucks, and I know exactly the proper way to chill food without freezing it. I spent a lot of years in college labs and libraries, something a few more people consider. Very few bands use dry ice for special effects any more. It is expensive and has no advantages over Frog Juice, the type of smoke generator I sometimes use on stage.
Trivia today is easy. I was looking at bridge architecture as it progressed from stone to wood to steel and to concrete. Next would seem carbon fiber. Two items found my interest. First, consider all those houses you see built on the bridges over the Thames River in London in the old days. I thought they were there to help pay the toll. It seems they were coveted as the healthiest places to live.
The second item was a series of pictures showing railway stations. No two are alike. I’ve never been a regular train passenger but upon inspection I realized I’ve seen many of the more famous buildings in the movies. I’ll wager a knowledgeable person could, from the movies, determine very accurate dates and locations from nothing but the structure of old railway stations. The one seen in Harry Potter dates from 1840 something.
Next, noticing my instant grits contained added sodium, I set out to find some real grits. Not around here, yet this is the grit capital or close to it. They’ve got two dozen brands of hominy but nothing other than instant grits. Real grits, you can pour on an anthill and in a week, the insects are gone. So I checked the library, only to find more grits trivia.
A traditional grits factory uses a waterwheel pounding arm to crack the corn kernels. This sound can be heard miles away and was apparently part of the reason that plantation owners forbade slaves work in the mills. Being afraid of African drum messages, they also did not permit slaves to own any percussion instruments. This ban reputedly did not cover Hohner harmonicas and Fender Telecaster guitars. Anyway, poor whites often worked at the cracking mills in Georgia, hence a cracker is originally a person from that state. Now you know.
Jag was over for practice, I kind of laid the law. He has not been delivering the wow, last week he tried to follow me on stage, nuh, nuh, huh. I chatted with Cowboy Mike and the Hippie has an open mic out near Nova. This Friday has to show some improvement, a fact I heavily impressed upon Jag this evening. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy on stage without having to worry about the other guy.
I stopped in at Bud’s to get some feedback on the bingo. I got no complaints and a slight enthusiasm for the upcoming show. The server reports the best night for her since time began, and I think we can keep that going. She stated she was worried whether I was making enough money. That’s a good sign.
The weather gets a mention. For the previous few days, a healthy breeze has been heading in from the northwest. If I was in Seattle again, I’d say that is the harbinger of a change of seasons. In a related moment, I looked at some rain-proof clothes, mostly from Coleman. That company made it big by donating millions of lamps to hurricane and disaster victims, often getting more lanterns back than given out. I have one here I’d like to fire up. The lamps do generate considerable heat. Until the cooler weather arrives in late November, I’ll just hold off on that.
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