Nashville, TN to Birmingham, AL
@ Uncle Gary's Fun House.
Last night there was discussion about finding cowboy boots for Meghan, but it just didn't pan out, timing-wise. So Meghan got up earlyish and headed back to Nashville on her own while we stayed back at the house. My honest belief was that there was no way she'd find quality boots at a decent price with only an hour to work with.
As you can see from this pic snapped in Birmingham later in the day, I was wrong. Meghan found a pair of $500+ boots marked down to $150. They are fancy, intricately-designed turquoise numbers that look super cool. I am impressed. We all are.
It was rainy in Nashville as we got started for the day. We knew the drive to Birmingham was short, so we took our time. We had a lovely breakfast with John and Cindy - eggs, cheese, biscuits, jam, etc. Delish. Also, they have a beautiful, big home with a vast yard out back that connects to all their neighbor's yards - no fences! Very cool. We packed and shook hands and hugged and took a picture and got back on the road.
On the way there was discussion about why it was that Birmingham made some of us nervous. Primarily it stems from being about as far away from this place as you can be in the continental U.S. most of the time - Birmingham has this reputation for being a hotbed of the civil rights movement and as such, rife with struggle. As an Asian American, Cristina herself was a just little paranoid about being stared at or worse. Then she just decided that was an uneducated thing to worry about, and decided to relax and have a good time. I would like to add that there were two other Asians in the other bands we played with in Birmingham, plus an African American, who happened to be the first non-whiteys we've played with so far. So there you go.
We got into town early and found food at Mrs. B's on Fourth - it was yr classic southern restaurant. Meatloaf and fried chicken, collared greens and mac n' cheese, green beans, corn, kaBAM it was the real deal, peoples. Even as a mostly-vegetarian I was able to put together a mound of deliciousness for myself. We took it to go.
The show itself was at a storage space our hosts called "Uncle Gary's House of Fun", which is confusingly located at a storage facilty called Uncle Bob's Self-Storage. That's right: an outdoor storage unit, dudes. Apparently this is how they put on shows in Birmingham right now. If you want to attend, you have to punch in a security code at the gate. All the showgoers know this, and even though there are survelliance cameras everywhere, no one cared. I guess many bands rehearse in these storage units, so it was easy to make the jump to hosting shows.
Trent, who is the boyfriend of CT4's friend Aaron back in Bellingham, set up the show. (Trent, by the by, is a fucking awesome dude. Very accomodating and kind to us.) He worked with a tall fellow named Dave to make this thing work. Essentially it was a hardcore punk/metal show, but CT4 held their own. There was a local opener, then CT4, and then 3 touring bands from the Boston area: The Fake Boys, The Bonus Army, and Hammer Bros.
That's Dave there. He's taking these awesome pictures:
The touring acts rolled in halfway through CT4's set. The band greeted them as they arrived: "Hello, other touring bands!" Between us, I think they were making fun of the tardiness. It was, all told, about 15ish dudes, many of them enormous, and covered with ink. I admit to a fair amount of ignorance when it comes to this culture, so I was honestly intimidated. But while their music is thunderous and fast and angry and almost unlistenable (to me, outside of a live performance like this), I thought it was great. They were nice, and they were really good at their instruments. There was this one guy who sorta stomped around and jumped in the air while playing his guitar - it was cool.
The show somehow devolved into a jam session at the end and we vacated for Al's, an incredible 24-hour Mediterreanean place that made us all happy. I grilled Trent on Birmingham history and why Lynrd Skynrd thinks they love the governor there (it has to do with a freeway, actually, according to Trent). We met Trent's friend Brandon, and Emily, the sweet girl who put us up for the night, as well as her friends Madison and Holly.
Emily has a pool in her apartment complex! We went swimming again! Trent took off but we all splashed around for a good while and relaxed in the chloriney water. We really like Birmingham, yo. From a cursory standpoint, where you assess a place based on your gut after seeing just a little bit, Birmingham feels good.
