May 31, 2008 - August 29, 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008


Don’t Jump!
Current mood: knighted

A new abode has just about been acquired. Without going into too many details, I am more than pleased by this prospect. Now to break it to my buddy Pluto. I hope he takes it well.

John Mayer at Alltel Pavilion went smooth as glass. Well, not really in the beginning. Getting there was somewhat of a nightmare, given the state of mass transit in the fair city of Raleigh. My call time was 8:30 a.m., which in New York would be no problem at all. Actually, anywhere in the Northeast it wouldn't be a problem, but here in Raleigh, that's not the case. I gave myself two and a half hours to get there on time. Yes, two and a half hours. Yes, I did get there on time, but not exactly without difficulty. I jumped on the 2 bus from my house and made my way downtown to Moore Transit Station. No sweat. Fifteen minutes and I was there. I took an early bus so I could guarantee that I would make the 7:00 transfer to the 5 bus, which according to the CAT website would get me to my destination at 8:18. Perfect, right? Well, all I have to say to that is never rely on the CAT website for any sort of information. I did arrive on time at Moore Station. I even had enough time to find some coffee. I had a lovely Cafe Americano from Raleigh Times, but I digress.

While on the bus, I noticed that they weren't calling out the stops as they sometimes do. Seeing as it was beginning to look as if I were out in the country (or at least the yards were getting bigger), I approached the bus driver to see if my stop was coming up. Why yes it was. I then asked which direction Alltel was, and she says, "My goodness. You have a long way to go from here. You should have taken the 18." Ah, yes. The tried and true 18. Yeah right. Thanks, CAT website.

I got off at my stop and proceeded down the road. Having lived in New York for ten years, I'm definitely accustomed to walking long distances. According to the CAT website, I had approximately a mile and a half to walk. In New York terms that would be about thirty blocks. Herald Square to the East Village -- easy. What the directions didn't say is that about a quarter mile from my destination, I would come across a freeway overpass, and one without any sort of sidewalk or barrier in the least bit. I approached the overpass, and immediately said, "No fucking way." Yes, I even said it out loud. I walked around to see if there could be another way over the freeway. No dice. So, I finally made the embarrasing call to my new employer and explained my situation. Beat and Tony came to the rescue and I made it to work right on time!

I thought, oh great. This is how my day is beginning? Isn't that terrific? Well, I got in the kitchen, and immediately turned things around, and much to my delight, my somewhat traumatic journey turned into what might have been one of the best career moves of my life. I kid you not. Without going into too much (I am superstitious, after all) I see many great opportunities on my horizon. Well, either that, or I'm going to become a mass transportation lobbyist for the city of Raleigh. Hmm.

Off to Greensboro I go!


Currently listening :
Highway 61 Revisited
By Bob Dylan
Release date: 2004-06-01

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008


Idle Hands Parte Deux
Current mood: intense

Ah, Raleigh. By the looks of the calendar, I've technically been here for a total of three and one-half months. Granted I wasn't actually here for two of them, but...Now to figure out what to do with Raleigh. Some things in the works; First, but not necesarilly, to find a new abode. I will take my time with this, and if something comes about that is absolutely perfect, I'm sure it will happen. It must. After said abode has been acquired, I must find some relatively stable work, especially now that the festival season is mostly over. There is a work agenda on the horizon, but more on that later. And finally, I should probably find some sort of vehicle to get me to and from said stable work. Oh God! Not that! Actually, I'm thinking that a bike might be even better, but that would only be if I lived a little closer to downtown. Cruising down Capital Blvd. on a bicycle at 3:00 in the morning just doesn't seem that appealing to me for some reason. Call me crazy.

Back to the topic of stable work. John Maher? Is that what's next on the agenda? Doesn't he do that "You're Beautiful" song that I hate so much? Oh God, again. After that, some gig in beautiful Greensboro (Is it? I've never been.) with Paul McCartney's Son and some guy who at one time won American Idol. Oh God, part three. So be it. It's work, is it not? Now if only I could figure out how to pull the resources together to start my OWN business. Wouldn't that be grand? Yes it would.

Currently listening :
Double Nickels on the Dime
By Minutemen
Release date: 1990-10-25

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008


Hey! You’re Not the Boss of Me!
Current mood: apathetic

I've returned from my most recent little jaunt around the South. This time, I was out feeding the Boss in both Charleston and Richmond. Yes, that's the right. The Boss, as in Mr. Springsteen and his E Street communards. It was a grueling five day run, but once again, I made it through. I returned extremely exhausted, but unscathed in the end. Bloodied, but unbowed, if you will.

My first stop was Charleston, SC. Considering that I had never seen Charleston before and that my new employer wasn't even in town yet, I decided to seek a cab to go check out the town. At first, people seemed somewhat unfriendly and distrustful. Maybe they smelled the Yankee on me. I asked the people at Greyhound desk for a cab number, and without even looking up at me, I was told that a number was not available. I asked someone in the front of the building, and they looked at me like I was insane and told me that they didn't have a number. A very large woman, with several children in tow overheard me, and finally was able to give me a number for a cab. That of course was after she asked me twenty questions about where I was going. Good, God! I just want to catch a cab. Did it have to be so difficult? Apparently so. I finally got a hold of a cab company, and then they asked me twenty questions as well. Then there was the cab that pulled up from a different company that wouldn't even let me in his cab. According to the Greyhound attendant, "He only picks up men from the station." Clearly I wasn't able to help him with that, so I let him go on his merry way.

Once I made it downtown, the cab driver dropped me at a bustling little seafood place, right on the harbor - the name of which escapes me. Something Ferry, so I'm guessing it at one time was a ferry station. Quick, aren't I? I bellied up to the bar, as I normally do, retrieved a menu and wine list from the bartender, and proceeded to order what I would call a mediocre, at best, meal. It consisted of a doughy and somewhat flavorless crab cake, and a tuna steak with a charred tomato sauce, sauteed green beans and dirty rice. Even the bartender at this establishment was mediocre, although he did buy me a shot at the end. Along with my tuna steak, I ordered a glass of red zinfandel, something that I would deem as an appropriate wine selection. To this, the bartender responded by sucking air through his teeth and saying, "Oh, I don't know if I would do that," as if I were about to throw rocks through the window. The other bartender backed me up on my choice, and all systems were go for the glass of red zinfandel. Kids today, I tell you. Hasn't anybody ever told him that the customer is always right? Hmm.

I made my way back to the Red Roof Inn in some foul smelling cab with the surliest of surly cab drivers. You would think this all would make me feel at home, being from New York, but not today. Today, it was merely a cab ride with an asshole cab driver that smelled like he shat himself. I made it back in one piece to find that my co-workers had just arrived at the hotel. I introduced myself, and straight to bed I went. We had a 4:15 a.m. call in the parking lot, and it was now 12:30 a.m. Yikes!

4:15 a.m. came quickly, and there I was with Emma, John and Aaron in the parking lot, as commanded to do. We jumped in the van and found ourselves at the Charleston Coliseum to go through the usual procedure of unloading the trucks and setting up the kitchen and dining room. We were short handed, and seeing as I had never worked for this company before, they had no idea that I'm a chef. For all they knew, I was a master sommelier. Well, as luck should have it, their dishwasher of three years quit about one hour before they were supposed to depart from Asheville. So, on top of setting up the buffet line, making all of the five hundred gallons of coffee and filling the refrigerator with beverages, the great task of washing dishes was bestowed upon me. Yes, I will do dishes when I work for Kerry or any other employer, but for twenty hours straight??? Probably not. It's true. I did dishes for approximately twenty hours that day. At one point, my employer found out what my role for Kerry actually is, and he was extremely apologetic and seemingly grateful, but that didn't change the fact that I still did dishes for twenty hours. So be it. Once again, I got through it, and then moved on to the next day.

We finally exited the coliseum at 2:30 a.m. and went straight back to the hotel. We were to sleep in until check out, which was noon. I woke up at about 11:15, took a quick shower, and then we got a call around 11:55 from Jim telling us that he extended our check out until 1:00. Thank for the heads up, guy. I decided that I was going to walk around the highway area and see if I could rustle up some cash and maybe some food. For some reason I woke up famished, and I made it my number one priority to get food in my stomach. I traipsed over to the Kangaroo Mart to get some cash, and then made my way back across the highway to the Waffle House to order my Texas Turkey Melt sandwich and some cheesy grits. Oh, and of course some coffee. I sat and ate my sandwich while I watched the Waffle House employee drama unfold, and then made my way back to the hotel. Jim had called and told me that they already left to go to IHOP, and said that he would pick me up at the hotel, so there I waited. Back to IHOP, and then in the van we went to make our way up to Richmond.

Seeing as it was Aaron's birthday, it seemed fitting that we all go out for some food and drinks once we hit the town. John opted out, so it was me, Aaron and Emma. We jumped in the van and made our way downtown. We finally found our way to some sort of ale house that was recommended. Once again, we were served mediocre food, and it was overpriced. We had some serviceable calamari with a corn salsa and cilantro aioli, both of which could have had much done to them to make better. I had a Crab BLT, which was basically a flashy tuna sandwich with some bacon on it. They did have a pretty impressive beer selection, although going through their beer menu was a little bit like searching through the Library of Congress.

Emma, as planned, made her way back to the hotel, and Aaron and I headed towards a part of town that was recommended to us by the name of "The Bottom". I'm not quite sure why it was called "The Bottom", but I'm guessing that it's in reference to some hill that must have been near by. We popped our heads in a couple of bars, and immediately decided that we had to move on to something a little bit more lively. We then found ourselves at some sort of Irish pub with a spaced out bartender and a lively, mixed crowd. We ordered our Jameson's and our Newcastle, and then suddenly found that the bartender had turned off the music and instead turned on some movie. We decided that wasn't quite our speed, so we quickly finished our beers and made our way down to another bar, of which the name escapes me. It was a little, arty, punk-rock bar with lots of mannequins and skulls and various other knick-knacks scattered about; the sort of place with which I'm definitely familiar. We were greeted by a somewhat friendly, red-headed bartender by the name of Chris. We ordered our shots and beers and repeated the process several times until the bar closed at 2:00 a.m. Not a good thing, considering that we had another 4:15 a.m. call, but like it hasn't been done before. Ah, to be young.

3:45 a.m. came about. I woke up, jumped in the shower for fifteen seconds, and rolled out to the parking lot. This time around, we had some local crew, so my dishwashing services were no longer required. Thank you. There must be a God. The morning went by without incident, except one small thing. Aaron never got out of bed, therefore, he never made it into work. Jim was livid to say the least, but what were we to do? The only thing to do was to press on and make the best of it. We rolled the truck and van into the building, unloaded the stuff and set up as usual. I made the five-hundred gallons of coffee and filled the cooler, then was instructed to go into the kitchen to help out with making lunch. Ah, back to my home turf. The menu had been made already, and I was instructed to make shepherd's pie and some minestrone soup. Usually, quite an easy task, but this time, there were problems. Go figure! At about 9:45 a.m. (I think), some electricians came into our kitchen area and informed us that we would need to shut down everything and rewire it, because we were simply drawing too much power. What??? You can't shut us down! We were in the middle of lunch, and it HAD to be up at noon. That's just the way it is. We didn't have any time to spare. Well, we had to work around it, and we just made the best of it. Luckily, at one point the Catering Coordinator came in and told us that we had another half hour. Phew. But alas, it still wasn't enough time.

We finally got our half-assed lunch out on the line at 12:45, and I have to say that it was one of my least proud culinary moments. The potatoes were undercooked, so the topping for the shepherd's pie was chewy and lumpy. The minestrone was okay, but it didn't have any pasta in it. Whatevs. It's not like production crews are exactly gourmands, but in the end, it's not how I like to operate. I prefer to put out the best food possible, but this time it just didn't happen.

We made it up at dinner time with some awesome beef tenderloin, some swordfish steaks, and a bunch of other things. I made Clarence four lobster tails and a nice big steak (as per his rider), and then we packed up the kitchen and finally headed out at 3:30 a.m.

Now I'm back in Raleigh. Next on the agenda? Who knows. I'm sure it will almost be interesting, though.





Currently listening :
Van Halen
By Van Halen
Release date: 2000-09-19

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Monday, August 11, 2008


Some pictures!
Current mood: tested

Yeah, that's right. I posted some pictures from the last two months on the road. I can't believe all the ground that I covered over the past couple of months, and to think, some of my friends are still going. I think I'm glad to be back in Raleigh, but part of me almost wishes that I was still on the move. That time will come again, I presume.

Currently reading :
Delicate Prey: And Other Stories
By Paul Bowles
Release date: 2006-06-13

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Thursday, August 07, 2008


Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Current mood: indescribable

It's been almost two months since I left Raleigh, and I think I'm finally ready to return. It's been an interesting summer, to say the least. Where have my travels taken me, and what have I been doing? Well, let me see. It all started out, of course, in beautiful Portland, ME, but I already told y'all about that already. Then we made our way across the country in the trucks to lovely Rothbury, MI for our first harrowing festival experience. That was a tough one, but we made it through it -- barely. But we did make it through, and immediately after we had to haul ass to Masontown, WV for sketch fest, 2008. Okay, it's not really called Sketch Fest, but it certainly should be. It's actually called All Good, and despite its idyllic surroundings, it's filled with nothing but drug fueled, nitrous tank toting, neo-hippies. Woo hoo! Good times? Hardly, although when I'm there, I just stay out of the mix and stick to the people that I know and love. Although, that being said, initially I was so exhausted from Rothbury that interacting with people at first was somewhat of a difficult challenge. Once again, we made it through and then for a break.



Off the caravan went for the great Professional Catering Services, Inc., decision by committee party. We discussed the options - well not we, but they discussed the options - and finally ended up at a campground in the New River Gorge, all with the intentions of going white-water rafting. Uh, no thanks. I don't know what happened over the years, because at one point in my life I would have probably gone along, but this time I wasn't feeling it. I was tired, and cranky, and I just wanted a bed and maybe some good food and company. I wanted to chill, so instead of going with the group, I drove Veronica and Nicky to Staunton, VA so somebody could pick them up to go home for a few days. Definitely a good call on my behalf, because on the return trip I had three much needed hours to myself. I returned to find the party had just started. The fire was going, food was cooking, and I was far more relaxed than I had been when I left in the morning.

Good times were had that evening, including a little jaunt into the woods and stretching out in wet grass by a frog filled pond under a full moon. I had the scratches all up and down my arms in the morning to prove it. Then, finally at about two or three in the morning, I made my way back to our cabin. Despite having no bedding to speak of, I was looking forward to lying down on my little bed, with tablecloths to keep me warm. But alas, my plans were quickly thwarted. I went to the door and discovered six Asian women had taken over the cabin, despite the fact that all of my stuff was still in the room. Clearly there had been an administrative error. At first, of course, I was annoyed. I made my way to the truck, put on my headphones, and finally got over it all and went to sleep. I awoke at about 11:00 to find that everyone was making their way to some gas station down the road that served food. Ah, gas station food. Not exactly ideal nutrition, but sustenance was definitely in order, so I followed.

We finally made our way back on the road. We drove for a while to a lovely town by the name of Lewisburg, WV. I napped, woke up terribly cranky, and then made my way to town to have food with Lauren and Dicky - us three being the triumvirate of bitterness. I had a serviceable Irish stew and some Jameson, and then we made our way back to our house, er um, hotel.

At this point I was done with our little vacation, and was definitely ready to go back to work. Perfect, because we all jumped in the truck and finally made our way to our next destination - beautiful Floyd, VA. The thing about all of these festivals is that despite their content, they're usually set in the most beautiful surroundings. This time, our site was in the middle of the Blue Ridge mountains in Northwestern Virginia. The nice thing about Floyd Fest was that it wasn't so filled with the usual "wookie" set. It was much more family oriented, and very chill. We got through this festival with ease (well, somewhat) and all parted ways at the end.

My original intentions were to go straight back to Raleigh after all of the festival hub-bub was over. That all would have been fine, but suddenly I got a wild hair up my ass and decided that it would be a good idea to go to Chicago. I had originally set my sights on procuring a pass for Lollapalooza, but was fine with the idea of just going to Chicago. It had been almost fifteen years since I had been back, and I thought since I was going there it would be nice to take a little side trip to Minneapolis - the Motherland.

Monica, Melyssa and I jumped in Monica's car and made our way to Chicago, with one planned stop in Charleston, WV, where we would be dropping off Melyssa. The plan was to drop her off and then hit the road again, but instead we all decided to stay in Charleston for the night. Too much fun, we had. We made our way to Sam's, a bar that I had been to when I last was in Charleston working for Kenny Chesney. My friend Dave wasn't working, which was too bad, but we had a great time, nonetheless. Many shots of tequila later, we continued to cause trouble by getting a large group of people to go to a strip club, which we were denied entrance to. Instead, Melyssa went running across the street and proceeded to jump into a large fountain. Monica and nameless follower "A" jumped in as well. Melyssa was then wrestling with nameless follower "A", all of which I have captured in photo form. We then made our way back to the hotel, carried on with stories to tell and things to share and then passed out. After one failed attempt to get Melyssa on the bus in the morning, we found our way to the mall (yes, the mall) to have some food. Food was consumed, pictures were taken in the photo booth, then we dropped Melyssa off at the bus station. We bid her farewell, and then made our way onto the freeway. Finally at about 10:00 p.m., we made our way into Chicago.

I stayed at Monica and Billy's place the first night. She showed me the neighborhood, we had Mexican food and then we made our way to one of the local bars. Good times, and more shots. Oh snap! After our many shots and successfully closing the bar, we made our way to Billy's Mom's house, where his brother and a group of his friends were sitting around smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and playing poker. We had some bratwurst and then made our way back to Billy's to drink wine and more (yes, more) tequila. Oh snap, again.



The next night I stayed at a hotel on LaSalle and Division. It was one of those transient style hotels. You know, the kind where you pick up TB. I was having a moment where I felt that it was necessary to experience that sort of a place, just once in my life, and ye know, it wasn't so bad. Nobody bothered me, and I had some much needed privacy. The next night I stayed at Marquis' house. Marquis is a friend of Porkchop's who I had met once before in Brooklyn. He's a bit of a nut, but I figured why not see Chicago from a native's perspective. I stayed there a couple of nights and then decided to make my way up to Minneapolis.

A visit to Minneapolis, of course, was way overdue. I took the Amtrak up there, which is always awesome. I love taking trains. I jumped into a cab and made my way to Chris' house. Seemingly not much has changed in the Minny. There are a few new restaurants, but most everything seems to be the same. After I arrived, we made our way to some bar where Chris' sister, Carol was DJing. At that point I felt like I may as well have been in a different country. Chris and Carol were of course familiar, but nobody else was. There was a time when I lived in Minneapolis and would go out and knew or recognized a good portion of those in the same place. This time around, nobody was familiar. Same thing happened the next night when I went out with Wendy to see Witchcraft. We went to the Triple Rock (a place that popped up after I moved away), and not one person was familiar. I guess I've been away for awhile.



Seeing as I had tickets to see The Melvins in Chicago on Monday, I had to high-tail it back to Chi-town, early on Monday morning. Wendy and I made our way over to Mickey's Diner in St. Paul, and then she dropped me off at the train station. While in transit, I rested a bit, and then made plans to meet my friend Patrick for Ethiopian food. This time, instead of the TB hotel or Marquis' place, I decided to upgrade to some hotel on the South side near Chinatown. I plunked my stuff down, cleaned myself up and headed up to Belmont and Clark to meet Patrick. While taking the train, suddenly a huge thunderstorm erupted, and apparently several tornadoes touched down in the Chicago area. As I guessed, Patrick was on the platform having just got off the same train. We waited the storm out and then made our way to have our Ethiopian meal, which, by the way, was pretty awesome. It wasn't the best Ethiopian that I've had, but it was definitely stand-up.



After a failed train ride attempt, we finally sensibly grabbed a cab to head to the Double Door in Wicker Park. We had missed Big Business, which was too bad, but were just in time for the Melvins, who were as usual, pretty awesome. There were weak moments when they did the reinvented Melvins stuff, but overall it was a good show. I wasn't sure how Patrick would receive it, but apparently he enjoyed it – and quite a bit. For this, I am glad.



One more night in town, and then I would make my way with Jared to ride with him to Asheville, NC, which is where I am right now. Tuesday night I hung out with Marquis and Patrick a bit, and then early, early, early in the morning, Jared and I made our way to Asheville. My original intentions were to leave Asheville as soon as I arrived, but I instead decided to stay the night. Three nights later, I'm still here. Not sure how that happened, but it did. Tomorrow morning, I will finally get on a bus and head down to Concord to go to a wedding with my friend Gus. That should be interesting. I will be in Concord overnight and then off to Raleigh I go! Ah, good ol' Raleigh. Seeing as I've spent most of my money already, I will need to go to work pretty much right away. The good news is that I already have an interview set up for Monday, plus I'm going to talk to a woman about decorating cookies for her gift basket company. That should be good.



Until next time…

Currently listening :
Focus Level
By Endless Boogie
Release date: 2008-06-17

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Monday, June 23, 2008


Six Word Memoir
Current mood: apathetic

Writing makes me miss home more. There, Ben. There's my six word memoir. One of many from tonight.

I need for this summer to pass quickly. Here it is, day four of being in Michigan, and frankly, I'm still not feeling it. We actually started working today, and there were some challenges along the way. First of all, how do we procure twenty plus cases of tempeh when we're in a town of four hundred and sixteen people? Next, how do we get a four top range to cook eggs for nine hundred people? Actually, these are the sort of things that I enjoy doing. I could spend hours researching resources, especially when I'm faced with the challenge of knowing that there are NO resources in the immediate vicinity. I mean, come on. Most people in the world don't even know what tempeh is, let alone where to find it. I did get lost on my way to the grocery store today, and that was actually quite enjoyable. It's sort of nice to see the Midwestern landscape again. Rolling hills amidst flat fields of corn and soybeans. And did I mention the cottonwood trees? I haven't seen a cottonwood in years!

Tomorrow, the Sysco truck comes in! Yay! We can finally cook! Things are looking up, and hopefully I will no longer be bored.

Currently listening :
The Number of the Beast
By Iron Maiden
Release date: 2002-03-26

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Saturday, June 21, 2008


Idle Hands
Current mood: bored

I arrived in Portland on Wednesday morning to find that one of our trucks was not running, and that we would of course have to wait until it was fixed before we could leave. Story of the backstage catering world, I'll have you know. It's never like you can just show up and things start happening. It's more like a constant state of "hurry up and wait". Not my favorite state of existence, but I've learned to live with it.

The truck was finally road worthy, we brought it back to the warehouse, and loaded it up with all of our equipment. It's actually quite the process to get everything onto the trucks. Everything that we use to cook on the road is packed in road cases, just like what bands use for their equipment. Everything has to be packed just so, otherwise a. not everything will fit, and b. the truck will be off balance. We finally got the truck packed, and off we went, and only seven hours behind schedule.

I had only been up for thirty-six hours at this point, but surprisingly, I felt pretty good. I guess I was just excited about working again. We made our way down the Maine turnpike, jumped onto the Mass turnpike, and made the decision somewhere around Worcester to stop in Lowell, MA. Lowell is about a half-hour outside of Boston. A lovely little New England town that at one time was known for a lot of heroin traficking. This fact always sort of threw me for a loop, because on the surface, Lowell is the last place where you would suspect something like that happens. I guess looks can be deceiving. Lowell, is also where Green Magnet School were from, but I digress.

We spent the night at Doubletree, Kerry's (my boss) home away from home. Clearly there was some sort of event going on. Lots of high school to early college age students were in the hallways and entryways of the hotel. Lots of drama in one group, which of course, witnessing this makes me glad that I'm no longer that age.

I ate some Chinese food from Kerry's favorite place in Lowell, which consisted of the largest chicken wings I've ever seen in my life, and some hot and sour soup. I made my way back to my room, called for my wake up call, read about three words from my book and immediately passed out. I woke up three minutes before my wake up call (which was 6:00 a.m), jumped out of bed and readied myself for the long drive ahead of us. As usual, we met in the lobby, had a little breakfast and finally were on the road by 7:00 a.m. We drove down the Mass turnpike to New York and drove across to a place somewhere near Schenectady, which is where we were picking up Danielle, who was also working for us. The interesting thing about Danielle is that at one time, she was a student of mine at the culinary school. I didn't recognize her at first, but then I remembered of course once she pushed my memory.

Back in the trucks/van we went and down the road to a Red Roof Inn, somewhere outside of Cleveland. Oh, Ohio. Let's just say that Ohio is NOT a place that I plan on living - ever. I don't know what it is (or isn't) about Ohio, but there's something about it that pushes me away. It just seems completely void of culture, much in the same way as say Indiana or maybe Missouri. But on the other hand, some really great music has come out of Ohio, which has always perplexed me. I suppose it's just a matter of...what is the saying? Oh yes. Necessity is the mother of invention.

We got on the road the next day at 8:00 a.m. and made our way to Rothbury, MI. We finally arrived at the Double J ranch in Rothbury at about 5:00 in the evening. We made our way to the site to find our tents were up, but of course, as is always the case, the floors weren't built. Then, we find out later that they want to change our feed dates, and instead of feeding on Saturday the 21st, we would start feeding on the 28th. Where does that leave us? That leaves us with seven days of nothing to do. Once again, here we are in the state of "Hurry up and wait". Patience is a virtue? Tomorrow, Nikki, Ben and I are going canoeing, which should be good. After that, who knows what. Maybe I'll make my way to the arts and crafts building at the camp and make some god's eyes, or maybe I'll make a candle. I suddenly feel as if I'm nine and at Camp Icagowan again.

The strangest thing about this trip is that I feel completely different this time out. Last year, whenever I left New York, not once did I feel homesick or want to quickly return home. This time, though, it's different. Raleigh must have put its hooks in me, because for some odd reason, I'm missing it. Work must commence immediately, because idle hands are the devil's handywork. I'll stop with the expressions now.



Currently listening :
Hootenanny
By The Replacements
Release date: 2008-04-22

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Monday, June 16, 2008


Off I Go Again!
Current mood: stressed

I must have known that I would never work at the country club, because I just kept on putting them off. I knew something was about to happen, I just didn't know when. In the end, I knew I wouldn't be happy working at the country club. Too big, and not creative in the least bit. I just had this feeling that something was about to appear that would better suit me - and it did.

I received the call from Kerry on Friday. Rothbury is another jam-band festival (God, how many are there???) in Rothbury, MI. Never been there, but I'm sure it's nice. Every single place that I've been to for these festivals usually ends up being amazing. Lots of pristine land with trees galore and usually some sort of water source. This site seems to be relatively close to Lake Michigan, which I haven't seen in about ten years. It's not my favorite of the great lakes, but it's up there - Lake Superior being, well, um, superior.

Presumably I leave on Wednesday, but then again, it might be Thursday or Friday that I leave. Hopefully, it's Wednesday, because quite frankly, I'm bored. Pluto can only provide so much entertainment. I need to work, and this is the best possible scenario. I'll be gone a little over a month. I can come back to Raleigh, pay my rent through September and find that Southern style bungalow of my dreams. It's going to happen. I swear.

See you in a month or so.

Currently listening :
Break Up Break Down
By The Reigning Sound
Release date: 2001-05-15

8:42 AM - 9 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Tuesday, June 10, 2008


Don’t Put Off What You Can...
Current mood: hot

How does that saying go? Something about putting off today, something, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so I've officially been in Raleigh exactly thirty-one days. Who knew!?! It's all been such a whirlwind since I've been here, and frankly, a lot of the memories are slipping through the cracks. This is because of various reasons, but I won't go into that. I still do like it here an awful lot, but eventually I'll have to face the facts and go out and buy a car. Oh, woe is me.

As of last week, I received one firm job offer, and one tentative offer - the tentatative offer of course looking much more desirable. Isn't that always the case? The firm job offer, as it so happens to be, is at a country club here in Raleigh. Well. A country-club isn't exactly the end all, be all in epicurian delights, but it will have to do for the time-being. Actually the country club was hinging on my drug-test results, which of course I put off for a few days. Yes, I admit, I am very good at procrastination, but especially when it involves urinating in a cup. Um, just saying. Drug test cleared. No PCP or heroine in the old system, so all systems go to make grilled chicken breast for affluent Raleighites. Wait, is that what they're called? Raleighites? Sounds good to me. Grilled chicken breast, on the other hand, not so much. But alas, I'm sure there's plenty of it in my future. Ugh.

The funny thing is, that while I was holding off on the drug test, I suddenly received a couple of calls regarding backstage catering. I also met a friend of my roommates who is a chef and knows of a high-end restaurant that's opening soon where he could get me work. Well, isn't that ironic? We'll see what happens, though. Also, you never know. Maybe I'll just want to settle into a job here in beautiful Raleigh, buy a house and never leave again. They'll have to do something about this heat, though. Once again, just saying.

Currently listening :
Static Transmission
By Steve Wynn
Release date: 2003-06-24

3:55 PM - 3 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Saturday, May 31, 2008


Hook, Line and Sinker
Current mood: content

It's official. I've found a place to live, and actually move what amounts to be a small portion of my belongings into an apartment that I've never even seen. I have been to the neighborhood, though, so I guess that counts for something. I've even met my rommate, but I haven't met Pluto the pug, yet.

It appears that everybody knows one another in beautiful Raleigh. I can go to Slim's on any random night, and find pretty much the same people there time and time again. It's not necesarilly a bad thing, although it does feel like I'm on an episode of Cheers at times. It's a good thing that I've liked 99% of the people that I've met here.

Next step, to find a job, and then go back to Brooklyn to pick up the rest of my stuff. That should be interesting. Who wants to go on a road trip to and from Brooklyn?

Currently listening :
Electric Children
By The Monkeywrench
Release date: 2000-04-04

1:32 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove