Some cold, a little asian rastafarian, and some classic Roy stupidity

Hello friends and greetings from Kansas City. I know I should have posted last week, but I had some time off in Tampa and it just seemed to fly by. When I last posted I had just gotten to Va. Beach and was looking forward to better weather than I had in Toledo. That was not to be the case. It was cold and rainy, which I hate even more than the snow. The rain stopped but the cold stayed, and I remained layered in long johns for the entire week.
I had a great time in Virginia despite the weather. The crowds were great and I worked with Aries Spears who I enjoyed thoroughly. I met a lot of cool people which is part of the job that I love.

On Wednesday I went to the bar across the street where the waitress all where those plaid pleated skirts. I don’t know if it comes from going to catholic schools or what, but the skirts just rile me up. It wasn’t the skirts that really caught my attention, no, it was the performer that night. He was an Asian Rastafarian hippie guy named Jesse Chong. Playing solo with a drum machine and some other things that I don’t even know what they are called. He was amazing. He was playing a lot of covers with a reggae vibe and just blew me away with his version of Ben Harpers, “I’m gonna burn one down”. I was flashing back to my days managing the Full Moon in Tulsa and all the hippie bands. I was sitting there thinking, “man, my friend in Indiana would love this guy!”. Then boom, he breaks out with this version of Scarlet Begonias that blew my mind. That song has always reminded me of her. Here is a link to the video of him with his whole band, I only got to see him accustic. I have hard time believing the full band show could be any better.



When I got back to the room I looked him up and checked out his web site. I was amazed. He plays somewhere in Va. Beach every day. Seven days a week, either acoustic or with the band, he plays. It makes me feel like a total pansy. I am sitting there wishing I was home and this guy is out every night, banging it out. I guess you can spend so many days think where is my break, when do I get a shot at the bigs, and while you are whining someone is out there perfecting their art just because they love the art. Gave me something to think about.

The week went fast and before you know it I was back on the highway, this time heading to Tampa for a week at home. By the time I reached Florida the stench of two weeks in the car was awful. I couldn’t wait to get the car clean again.

I had some good down time. I was sick for a couple of days, but it was warm so who cares, right? Saw MK, went to Cowboy Mouth with Nini and Stini, even did a NLO show with Pattymelt and JB. Financially things are not where they need to be but they are getting better. I am gonna have to give the much loved condo, but it hasn’t really felt much like a home since MK moved out anyway.

By Monday the Super Bowl people began to show up in Tampa. The traffic was already just at a standstill. It took 45mins on Tuesday to get from Davis Islands to Ybor, usually it takes 5.

Wednesday it was off to KC. Mk agreed to drive me to the airport so as to avoid paying for parking. When I got to the airport I realized I had left my wallet in my car. So I had to get a cab back to MK’s place, pick up my car, pay for the parking and the cab, and fly standby on a flight with three stops instead of on the direct flight I was on earlier. My stupidity costs me more money than…well whatever.

I’ll post back soon to let you know how KC is.