true to the nature of this trip, nothing is as planned, nothing is as expected...{ wait, or is it???} either way, i can deal with it, but i realize i've been doin' a lot of gripin' about it lately, and just for good measure i'm gona do some more, but seeing as this is the second -(now third)rewrite on this, i can tell this is therapeutic and as i move down the page, the over all experience is just what i came here for. and it seems to get better, HAR! i'm closet Toaist still....
Asheville's arms, however, are not necessarily open wide to me, in fact i almost feel like it's saying to me, "well, you are funny looking and that's common here but, everyone else is already doing what your doing and, we don't really need another one of you here. sorry not interested but good luck anyway."
to be specific, it's really hard to find a place to stay for free here, although i met some folks today who seem to have a good camping spot staked out and are willing to share it with me, and i think they are trust worthy. i think we are trying to size each other up in that regard. there are a lot of street people here: bums, dirty kids, street musicians, poets. some of the street musicians (and poets) are like me, just here to play, with no place to live. very active and populated street scene indeed.
overall, it seems that people either don't have room to house you and/or just don't give that much of a shit. on one hand, i feel like my expectations have coloured my attitude on this and it seems really hard to change the disappointment in my mind. but it's such a stark contrast from arriving inn Louisville Kentucky where everyone i met was concerned about where i was going to stay and some people immediately offered me their place. and in Berea, where everyone that walked by wanted to say hello, in think i met half the town in one day, although, Berea is a much smaller place, it's kind of understandable there, small town and all. and i keep on meeting people here that say how open Asheville is, yet i feel like i haven't yet found the door in.
as it turns out i will have a roof over my head until october 13th, so that is a wonderful thing and i guess in a sense now my foot is in the door. after the 13th, i think i'm just going to camp out, (however, it's freagin cold here, man, i'm from Texas, i may be the only person in Texas who loves the heat and i knew it was gonna be cold here but dang it all, it's cold!) i'm kind of tired of asking people if i can stay with them or if they know where i can stay and continually turning up zilch, so i think just roughing it is going to be the deal, i'm mentally ready for it. just yesterday i was considering going back to Berea Kentucky and still may, however, Berea is coming here soon, so that will be a happy reunion. so yeah, my foot may in the door now, however the chain is still latched.
so these folks i'm staying with have opened their house to me until october 13th and for that i am grateful, this fella, Mike is the one of the few people i've connected with so far, other than other homeless street musicians. he didn't ask for it but i gave him some money because only kindness is making him have me stay here. Mike is a hoot, he's jolly like so many folks i met in Kentucky, he's five years older than i am and i think he has even more energy than i do, the dude is on fire. when i helped him on a tree job, he was runnin' all over the place all day! he zooms around the house when he's gettin' his class work done- he's an avid sustainable technologies student.
there's a great pianist i met recently who has been really welcoming and helpful. fun fact: this dude hauls his piano to every gig he plays, he is NOT F*#kin' around.
i met an interesting poet a coupla days ago too, who in some ways seems a bit sketch to me be i think it's cause he's been on the street for while and he's used to getting screwed. he's a bit paranoid, i want to get to know him better, he's definitely conscientious and conscious, he knows what's goin' and he can see the good in people. on the other hand, i wonder is he's a plant, a cop..... nah, i don't think they make cops as skinny as this guy is.
there are a lot of people here playing music on the streets. in fact you can walk a block a find a guy, then walk anther block and find a few guys, and you can walk another coupla blocks and find a guy and you go down to the Green Life spuermarket and find a guy and wait your turn to play.
now, i've met a lot of these street musicians, some of which are dead serious about it. i met two different fellas who are interested in putting together a street band with me, the effect hit me on a delay today, when after the fact i remembered the exchange, and it dawned on me, this dude just offered to put together a back up band for me and there i am sayin' no i want to perform solo, which i do and i can, but now i can form a freakin' band too! today me and this guy played "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" and this gypsy jazz version of "Black Magic Woman". so the potential is there to learn more cool stuff with this guy, to learn some sweet jazz banjo and he's also got a bluegrass band to boot. and we can put this stuff in venues too because i'm kinda good at booking and he's got a night he hosts at a bar- but i tell ya, it's kind of a lot more fun to play on the street here.
i'll find out soon if this other guy i met last wednesday is a flake or not, but we hit it off musically as well and then there's this crazy spoon player i jammed with last week, the same day i met the gypsy jazz guitarist. so there is cool stuff goin' on here..... ( i may ha e mentioned those guys already, sorry if i'm repeating myself, but that should be ab alert to you that it will be on the test at the end of the trip)
there's also a pretty good dumpster to hit too. i got a dozen eggs the other day, some orange juice and hemp protein (the juice and the hemp, i gave to the skinny poet), some grapes and hamburger buns. i'm making enough money to buy kale and dried fruit and some other staples too, i need to get off my ass and grab some food stamps....
i can average about ten bucks an hour busking, however sometimes people stop and talk to me for too long and it cuts into my time. i have yet to actually busk in shifts like i have planed to do. one spot for an hour, then move to another for an hour, take a break, find another spot and so on until i've done about five or six hours, maybe even seven or eight. we'll have to fit rehearsal time in there too which could be during the three to four o'clock lull in side walk traffic.
so there's a nut shell for ya, i gota get off this computer thingy and eat and hit the streets.
endtransmission-
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