© 2002 Kevin Brown
If you look really closely, you can see the baby alligator (possibly fake or dead).
Mar. 11, 2002
Sunshine State of Mind
Spring is almost here, and it’s about damn time! I’m starting to wake up just before my alarm goes off, blinking at the sunlight streaming through the blinds. And the Girl Scout cookies came in last week, another sure sign. (I was dieting when I had the chance to order, so I missed out. I’ll have to wait till they start selling them in front of the grocery store.)
I have been having a blast traveling around and doing gigs. If you’re new to my mailing list, thank you for coming out and listening! If it weren’t for you, I’d… well, I’d still probably be playing. But it’s much better to play for people than to play to the wall, so thanks!
In February I went to Florida for the first time, with a stop in scenic Macon, GA, home of Wesleyan College and Mercer University. It was another patented Lindsay the Spaz silly tour, Macon to Tampa with nothing in between. Just couldn’t land that strategic Gainesville gig. But, dude, it was so worth it! I had places to stay in both Macon and Tampa (huge shout-outs of gratitude to the Parish family of Macon, GA and to Bob Anthony in St. Pete), and it was a summer road trip in the middle of February that did wonders for my state of mind. I came back to a shivery Atlanta cold snap with a sunburn on half my face, a very strange feeling. Florida was so much fun! I ate oranges right off of a tree! I saw real live alligators! That part of the trip went something like this:
Me: "Look! A billboard for a 15-foot alligator! Can we stop? Huh? Can we?"
Kevin: "Are you serious?"
Me: "Yeah! I’ve never seen a real live alligator before."
Kevin: "Listen, if you really want to see gators, let’s wait until we get to Gainesville, and I’ll show you some in their natural habitat. That guy’s probably just locked in a cage or something. He’s probably not too happy."
Me: "Yay!"
(Later, on the campus of the University of Florida...)
Me: "Dude, it’s just lying there."
Kevin: "Yeah. That’s what they do, mostly."
Me: "Hmph."
Kevin: "They actually run faster than humans for the first 2 miles or something like that."
Me: "Really?"
Kevin: "Yeah. Here, read this informative sign."
(I read the sign, which explains that feeding the alligators is very, very dangerous because, despite their appearance of lazy brown logs lying in the sunshine, they are, in actuality, literally cold-blooded killers. It is possible that that was not the exact wording of the sign, but my memory bank is full of song lyrics and pointless bits of trivia, so what do you want?)
Kevin: "Look! There’s a baby one! Right there!"
Me: "Are you sure it's real? It doesn't look real."
Kevin: "I’ve never seen one this tiny!"
Me: "It’s floating. Do you think it’s dead?"
Kevin: "No, it’s sunning itself. I’m going to take a picture."
Me: "I think it’s dead. I’m going to poke it with a stick."
Kevin: "You know, I can’t see the mother anywhere, and I’m not even sure what the behavior is of alligators towards their young, but I really don’t think it’s a good idea to poke it with a stick."
Me: "Really?"
Kevin: "Yeah."
Me: "I really want to poke it with a stick."
Kevin: "No! Don't poke it with a stick. Look, I’ll tell you what. I’ll throw something in the water next to it. Maybe that will wake it up and prove to you that it's not dead."
(Splash)
Me: "Dude, it’s totally dead."
Kevin: "It is not dead!"
Me: "Maybe it was too far away. Throw something else."
(Splash)
Kevin: "That was probably too light. There aren’t any good rocks around here."
Me: "Let’s go eat."
All in all, it was a bit disappointing, really. I thought I was going to see snapping jaws or at least playful splashing in the water. It was a bit like the time I climbed all the way up Mount Vesuvius with my parents when I was 12, and there was nothing at the top but steam coming out of the dirt. I thought there would be molten lava, all scary and impressive, like in the videos we’d watched in science class. Dad said, "What did you think, that you were going to see into the center of the earth?" I was like, "Well, yeah!"
I’ve made a resolution to myself to always go out and see a bit of the towns where I’m playing. It makes me feel like I’m seeing the country, like I’m on vacation instead of just workin’ it. It makes all the phone calls and press releases so worthwhile! Speaking of which, I got a good write-up in the Weekly Planet in Tampa; I was quite thrilled. It’s on the reviews page.
This weekend I did two gigs to promote the SBS Records Sampler that I was on back in October (hey, these things take time!), and they were both so much fun! Saturday night I drove down to Columbus with Julie Tan from L.A., Michael Vick from Charleston, SC, and a vanload of crazy jazz musicians who play with Michael. We played at the Playwright Café, a fairly new Columbus venue. We set up the ol’ PA, played some music, sold some CD’s, and generally had us a blast. Then last night we played at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, where we were joined by Sean Wiggins from L.A. and Sue Witty, another local musician with whom I’ve played before but whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was another great, well-attended show, and now I’m all smiles about being a musician, which is my favorite mood to be in. (During the last couple of weeks, when I was setting all this up, I was in my "I’m quitting" mood, which isn’t nearly as much fun.) I love it when things go according to my evil schemes (mwah ha ha ha ha ha)! To everyone who came to the show last night – thank you! I hope you had as much fun as we did.
I’m at work now, and I have to go – we’re gearing up for the 2002 Season here at the Atlanta Opera.
What’s in my stereo at home:
What’s in my car:
What's in my CD player at work:
If you look really closely, you can see the baby alligator (possibly fake or dead).