One year ago today: November 19, 2016, a nice post.
Five years ago today: November 19, 2012, only $40,000 per missile.
Nine years ago today: November 19, 2008, Flame of the Woods.
Random years ago today: November 19, 2013, on Beale Street, TN
Birthday party's over, back to work. I went after that front stoop again, that is the worst of the damage. Here’s the view of the worst of the worst. This is the segment that was covered up by newer siding, with a bunch of tiny spacer blocks to make the trim look straight from the exterior. Shown here is a combination of water and termite damage. And nobody laugh that I’m dragging my arse, this is a three-man job I’m doing myself. Right now it is propped up on a series of new cinder blocks, I’m toying with the idea of leveling the entire front of the building now, rather than in the sections I had planned.
Folks, when driving at night, stay a quarter mile behind the car ahead of you. The freeway traffic was back up to normal, as opposed to the last time I saw the Interstates and things were sparse indeed. This time, it was white-knuckle the entire trip. Bradford called to invite me to the jam, but he’s not really listening that I don’t have any time left for ventures that don’t move to stage quickly. I still have a lady, bit of the gospel type, to audition. But I’m way too old to occupate any more of my time into music as a diversion.
Here’s your preliminary stats. Bear in mind my record keeping is a little more sophisticated than usual, so think of this as the least it would have cost you to do the same thing. You wouldn’t normally buy medicine, car parts, hard disk drives, or books on such a trip. This is the gas, entertainment, food parts, as usual, read over them and it will give you some idea of how to do this yourself. The trip cost was $620.07, of which more than half was gasoline ($186.40) and entertainment ($196.59) including the Opry ticket and the $8.00 beer inside the concert hall.
I spent $26.00 on coffee and $25.50 on parking. The bottom line here is I just don’t have to be entertained 24 hours per day, so I could have gotten away with $474.00, and even less if I’d packed lunch. But this wasn’t a trip to skimp on. I went everywhere and did what I pleased the whole time. The total cost was actually around $80 more than listed here, but I don’t count avoidables, like an extra tee-shirt, tips paid, and I regularly forget small stuff like doing the laundry.
I spent 31 times more money than usual for a birthday. Normally, I’d go out for a beer and sing some Karaoke. I don’t spend a lot on myself. Never have. Unless you start counting motorcycles, but even then . . .
Here’s a picture of kind of what to expect when you get there. These older buildings are renovated into clubs on the ground floors and who know what on the rest. Since my birthday isn't on any special week, for all I know it is like this every evening. This is from the north end, by the river, looking south. A few of the clubs are bigger, one has a pub on the roof. I didn’t check it out and I didn’t visit the clubs that had over-aggressive security. I could look in the door and see if there were any bad types inside, there is no need to be shaking down well-dressed white people.
And I might add that Nashville is doing something right. With one or two exceptions, the entire downtown was filled with affluent looking people, nobody was causing any ruckus or trouble. Everybody was polite and well-behaved. No slobber drunks, no prostitutes, no evident queers or queer clubs, although I find men dressed up a little too much like cowboys are always suspect. Are you listening, Florida?
Congo freeway.
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I’ve had time to think over the trip so here are some of my conclusions. First, you should go see the Opry if you are a musician. It is a major factor in getting your head on straight about what sells and what does not sell. This is no musical tour, but a permanent music show that has stood the test of time. Rock concerts may sell out but they also bomb. The Opry never bombs, the enduring Opry, which I estimate brings in $500,000 per show. There were two shows the night I was there. The room was half packed by solid return fans. I would go again in a moment. Sure, I had a good time, but I also spent a fortune for a guy on a budget.
I further correctly predicted the demise of the guitar sol with backing track. There was not a single such act I saw in a week in Tennessee. Good, I learned long ago the negatives of backing tracks and that’s why I’m seeking a guitarist who understands he’s just another instrument on my stage. The electric guitar is nice, but nobody has really come up with a new sound in decades. Here's a photo we all hope we will be seeing less of.
You see, I was also right about the direction of the music. Anybody who had listened to me ten or fifteen years ago would have had just as good a shot at being on the Opry stage as two or three of the filler acts I saw there. One goof got on stage and played two rock ballads, apparently not realizing the people had paid to hear country artists. I didn’t get his name and my notes just say M-D-G. And some total stereotype Dwight Yoakum copycat sang some generic love song that only a few women in the crowd even recognized. A bass and acoustic duo would have brought down the house compared to that.
I’ve also thought over the Opry and the downtown Nashville venue. The hey-day of the 40-50-something fat-boy electric guitar player is over. There were finally more four piece bands sharing the spotlight than solo guitarists. And what I saw music-wise with the solo guitarists was so typical: the usual dork who switched over to country too late in life to do it right or make a difference. Every set finds him trying to slip in his own personal “Simple Man” or Zydeco crap into the mix, but that never works, now does it, Glen? When they pretend to play country, it always has that annoying edge they think of as an improvement.
Arriving back in Lakeland after dark, I was wide enough awake to drive over to the Fun Bar and do some scribbling. There were no worthwhile females in the place. I took inventory since I left. Folks, this is why successful clubs (like the robot club) have secretary-treasurers. Pssst, that’s me. Since I left, nobody has read the meters, no deposits were on time, and all phone calls were missed. Nobody wrote or mailed the proper letters and no bills were paid. No appointments were set and nobody checked the mail. Broke people are always too busy doing other things.
Overall, I liked Tennessee. The roads are well-kept, everything works, they plainly have a handle on pesky minorities it seems. Who ever is running the place is very competent. The road system actually works, both the highways and the cities. Nobody asked me for spare change except one guy who was obviously down and out. That Opry concert I went to was totally my kind of people, I’m not saying they are better, only that I prefer that kind of crowd. Anybody who wanted to could attend, so we are talking some other kind of key differences because no such element was present.
It is possible the higher prices kept out the riff-raff, but that doesn’t explain the whole matter. So don’t explain it, Tennessee. Just leave it alone. Carry on.
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