Birmingham, AL to Memphis, TN
@ Buccaneer Lounge.
We slept in. Way, way in. There didn't seem to be a serious effort underway to get packed and moving until well into the afternoon. Primarily this is because some of us stayed up late hanging out at the pool with Brandon, Dave and what I hear is Dave's tiny, borrowed argyle swimsuit. When we got up, Trent returned to the apartment with his friend Aaron, and as I was attempting (and failing) to post some video to the blog, they ended up doing mud masks with Val and Meghan.
Tour!
The heat and humidity that morning was something I am simply not used to, but everyone else seems to have some reason to dig it. I'm at a loss. We got on the road and started driving west for the first time since we started this tour. Having progressed beyond the halfway point, it's interesting how we're already having thoughts about returning home, when just days ago the thought of not being on this tour seemed alien. Many people ask us if we hate each other yet. The reply is typically the same, at least from me: we get along entirely too well. There may be the occasional tiff or misunderstanding, but I think it's a vehicle full of level-headed types here.
Regardless, on the one hand there's a part of me (and each of us, I think, but I can't be too presumptuous) that wishes we could be out here doing this forever, or at least longer. We are having a great time, and this constant travel feels romantic and meaningful. It's a Cliff's Notes overview of America, though: we see so much, but only in narrow, hours-long gasps, like a photograph of a place. There's ultimately a sense that we're absorbing a tremendous amount of information. On the other hand, we've now been doing this long enough to feel less tickled by the newness of it; there is a satisfying, yet predictable, routine. We are aware that we are getting closer to home now.
Folks in Birmingham and Nashville warned us to be careful in Memphis, so we were on guard. Chris, a friend who came to the show, told us he has been mugged 3 times in the past year. It's where Dr. King was murdered, which is just a touch spooky. I would prefer to focus on the legacy of Memphis in rock history, however: it was the nearest big city to the blues musicians populating the Mississippi Delta once upon a time. Plus, it is named after an Egyptian city, and has hot wet air that sometimes feels like you are wearing it, rather than breathing or moving through it.
The Buccaneer Lounge can be described as a cross between the Blue Moon in Seattle and the Beaver Inn in Bellingham, then set on a shadowy remote corner in Memphis. There are young regulars and wood paneling, a spot in front of the fireplace for the band to play, a braided hippie sorta helping set up, a dart board, a patio, oil and smoke-laden A/C, and pools of darkness in the corners. We met Bankrupt and the Borrowers (who were hilariously misbilled as "Bankrupt and the Bar Whores"), an Austin band with serious Zeppelin influences - they are heavy and bloozy and the best band we've played with since Minneapolis.
I had to share the duty of gathering the door fee with Bankrupt and the Borrowers' manager, which was kind of weird. I'm a stranger in your city, and you're a regular who doesn't really want to pay anything, but it'll be five bucks to get in. Anyways, Meghan won the rock-paper-scissors match and CT4 went on first, doing a spot-on job as usual. There was a small clot of people there for them, including a a girl who used to live in Bellingham! What a nice surprise.
I took some video, but it will have to wait to get posted - it's 2 songs long and we've learned it takes a long time to upload..
We all got a kick out of the Austin band and their seasoned chops - they do not fuck around. We were assured that if CT4 wants to play Austin next year, they will make it happen. Tour! We loaded out, and in the parking lot Cristina said she saw a cockroach so large, it fell down while running and made a sound. One of them tried to make off with Meghan's pedal box.
The night was spent at Windy's, a relative of Valerie's who lives in Memphis. She has a beautiful home, and that night as we arrived the surroundings echoed with critters and creatures. The South in the summer is rippling with life.
