Time is flying by faster than I've been able to keep track. I promised some stories upon my return. Well, then I got busy hunting down paying work and didn't get them all posted before it's time to hit the road again. So, here's a bit of them in brief...

Back at the end of May the Asylum Street Spankers came to Asheville to perform. They did a half hour radio spot on the local public station which went rather smoothly even though the band had to clean up their language for FCC regulations. However, the amusing yet possibly tragic end to the interview was that after the band was given "all clear" in the studio a distinctly taboo word was allowed to leak across the airwaves. I got it on tape, but I'm only making a copy for the perpetrator of the error. That evening went much better though. The band played to a packed house of appreciative listeners at the Grey Eagle Tavern and Music Hall in Asheville. Immediately afterwards I shuffled my roommate Reese over to Vincent's Ear Cafe where he set up to play mid-stream with the Firecracker Jazz Band. I then toted a couple of the Spankers over as well and we danced until they kicked us out. This partial crew then headed down to our house for some much needed relaxing in the hot tub after a full day of excitement.

Since I didn't have any shows myself for a week I decided to hit the road with the band for a bit. The first stop was Atlanta for the Libertarian convention. This stop alone was well worth the trip as the band played for an eye-opening little fundraising party for a group called NORML. There was great music, great bbq, and lively conversation debating politics. It left me thinking quite a bit about the current status of our government. For instance, the recent "Click it or Ticket" campaign had me a bit baffled. While I understand the need for saftey belts, and regularly wear one myself, it seems to be an odd thing to focus on to keep highways safe. Why not focus on speeding law abuse, road rage, tailgating, and improper passing on the right on freeways to reduce the number of accidents created in the first place? Wearing a seatbelt will save my life if I'm in an accident, but it won't save me from the person going 20 miles over the speed limit, weaving in and out of traffic and slamming on the brakes in front of a semi-truck when they get stuck behind people driving at a safe speed. Wearing a seat belt is just a smart thing to do, like wearing a life-jacket when boating, or staying inside the window on the 40th floor of a building. It seems like people should take some personal responsiblity for their own safety and let the police worry about the people who are stupid enough to endanger the lives of others. Another oddity is the paradox of having a "War on Drugs" and being bombarded with ads through radio, tv, and newspapers that tell me if I take a little purple, blue, white, or multi-colored pill I'll be more social, sexier, able to sleep, and a better person all around. Some ads don't even tell you what the pill does, they just show a bunch of smiling happy people who are taking the drug. The use of Ritalin in particular has me puzzled. I've been in schools where there is a line of kids in the office at lunch time waiting to be dosed up on their pills, but there's a "Just Say No to Drugs" banner in the hall. So, let's take a hyperactive kid and give them a stimulant whose most common side effect is nervousness? Why does that make more sense than adjusting their diet to reduce sugars and giving them opportunities to use their energy in constructive ways? Folks at AbleChild are working on answers, and it seems I'm not the only one asking these questions. Still there is a man in New Mexico threatened with being arrested for taking his son off this drug. I don't think any kid should be brought up thinking they need to take a drug to be "normal" while being told at the same time that "drugs are bad." Who wouldn't be confused by that?

Okay, enough of that rant...on to other adventures.
We stayed in Atlanta a second night and enjoyed another lovely, lively show at Smith's Olde Bar before heading back home for a night of listening to jazz on old 78 records. Then we made the plow for Austin, Texas. Once recovered from the drive a few of us took a hike up to a place referred to as "sculpture falls." Our destination proved to be a lovely spot in the river where the rocks were worn smooth into perfect little wells where you could sit and let the water rush over your neck and shoulders. There was also a lovely area for swimming that was even equipped with rope swings. We had so much fun we nearly stayed to long and had to rush out through the dusk in order to find the trail back to the car. We paused to clean up and then went to hear more music from a local band that included a former Spanker, but I was worn out by that time and needed some sleep. The next day involved a tour of old Victrolas at a funky little house where a fellow spends his time rebuilding and repairing them and more old record listening. Then we were off to Dallas for what turned out to be a rather low-key show. That is where I said my farewell and left the band to the rest of their tour. From there I drove home and then picked up a co-worker to drive up to Plattsburg, New York. It took us two days and two rental cars to get there, but it was worth it. We got in there in time to catch an early showing of the newest Harry Potter movie. Then we spent the next day doing shows for over 600 amazing kids at a time in a beautiful theatre. But we didn't stop there, after the shows were done we drove down to Jersey City where I left my co-worker and then shuffled myself as close to home as I could before I stopped for a few hours of sleep. The next day I made it home and have been busy as you've seen with the task of earning money during the summer season that is unfortunately barren of shows at the moment. Whew!

Now I'm off to Austin to pick up my roommate and bring him home to wife and band and plenty of other musicians who have missed his creative spark while he's been on tour. Wish me dry roads and good traffic.~w

Okay, so I spent the day taking the cat to the vet and the car to the muffler guy for an estimate and handing out resumes to everyone who would take one. If you have work (or know of someone who has work) that can be done from my home office or someplace within a half hour of Tryon, North Carolina take a peek at my resume (PDF format requires free reader from Adobe or email me if you want a MSWord version).

Tomorrow I'm going to Asheville to play music in the street with my friend Lauren. Pray for good weather and lots of tourists!~w

Aargh! So, I was talking to my Dad yesterday, because it was father's day and all, and I learned from him that the "data entry from home" job that I thought I had is most likely a scam. He saw a news report about it. Grrr! I thought I had the whole income thing figured out for the summer until Fall hits and the performance and arts education work starts up full force again. So I'm back on the job hunt trail again. I cleaned a couple of cabins on Saturday for what I thought was just spending cash, but that will have to be saved for bills until something else comes along. So if anyone out there knows of some real work-from-home data entry, web research, website update/design, or database work I'd love to hear about it. Or if anyone out there just wants to send me money to pay bills so I can spend more time updating this website, practicing music, and writing instead of job hunting that would help too :) ~w

Just a quick note to say that i've made it to Atlanta, Austin, and now Plattsburg, New York so far this month. I might try to stay put again once i make it home. There are stories to tell, but this is just a teaser. You'll have to wait until i have time to write it all down.~w