A little over a week ago, I headed to Atlanta for a work thing. I'd never been and was a bit worried about all sorts of things related to travel as it had been a while. Everything ended up being fine, but I did have a panic attack when I reached my hotel room.
This was a work thing and so there were work things I had to do most of the time so I didn't really get out much.
I had dinner Sunday night in the hotel bar.
Lonely beer for one.
My late dinner of grilled veggies and mashed potatoes. It was worth the wait.
My food took a really long time to get to me and this had a big impact on my trip. Since I barely left the hotel and spent most meals eating at the hotel bar, I was overrun with customer service making it up to me for the rest of the trip. Free drinks and dessert and oodles of apologies whenever I came in sight of the manager. I wasn't even bitchy about my food being late that first night. I was way too tired and distraught to even care.
Free dessert. Chocolate mousse. It was so good I got again the next day.
But the overall customer service and friendliness from the people of Atlanta was amazing. Everywhere I went, I was greeted with big smiles and warm gestures.
I returned home late Tuesday evening sometime after 11pm. I was tired. I had to check out of my hotel room at 2, but my flight wasn't until 8:30 so I had been lugging my luggage for hours. And the Atlanta airport is no picnic. It was insanity. Not a single seat at any bar or restaurant for the longest time. Completely crowded.
I had to work the next two days and then there was a show (2 shows actually) that I had been looking forward to on Thursday night. So I went out. And it was a blast. Soda Pop Jerk, Rank Strangers, and Sex Rays at Palmers Bar on the West Bank in Minneapolis. It was great. So many friend were there. Great music. So much fun.
Soda Pop Jerk.
Rank Strangers.
Sex Rays.
The only reason I could really attend this show, though, was because I had taken Friday off of work to decompress after the crazy week and to prep for Cannonball on Saturday.
Cannonball is an annual road trip, scavenger hunt, film festival put on my some friends of mine. Teams of 4 follow an itinerary that takes them throughout the state to a final location unknown until the morning of. Each team has a theme and general movie plot of their choosing and have to film their day at various locations and compile a short film to show at the end of the day. My team won last year.
It's a lot of fun but exhausting. You spend about 8 hours in a car, running around, filming, editing...it can be a long day. Then you get to the final location (a lodge somewhere) and you show your film and watch others and they are all super funny and then you spend the rest of the evening in a big house party. The house party part gets harder and harder each year. The older you get, the less appealing just crashing anywhere becomes. This time I forced myself to stay up until 4am and every last person was going to bed just so I could sleep on the super comfortable couch and not in the sweat lodge/stink room that was the communal bedroom.
Some of our stops...
The Mermaid bar in Mounds View, MN.
Treasure City (somewhere in northern MN)
The Last Turn Saloon in Bemidji, MN where they serve burgers with egg rolls on them (this was not my dinner).
When you do finally get to your final location, it's dark and you don't really get to see where you are staying until the next morning. For example, I had no idea this was out the back door until I woke up in the morning:
Somewhere in Marcell, MN
I had taken Monday off of work, as well. After 5 years of Cannonball, I finally learned I need that extra day of recovery.
I then went to bed Monday night not feeling so great and woke up in the middle of the night unable to swallow. I seem to have caught a slight cold, which is completely expected. So now I'm just dealing with that. I stayed home sick yesterday after already being off of work last Friday and Monday - not to mention being out of town early last week in Atlanta. So that's why I'm feeling discombobulated. I'm just out of sorts. I keep forgetting what day it is and what things I'm supposed to be doing. Like prepping for my residency at The Nomad in November (every Thursday!). I've just finally been able to concentrate on it. I'm sure I'll finally start feeling normal again by next Thursday just in time to play rock shows until 2am in the middle of the week. But that's okay. Because I really like playing rock shows. I hope you can make it out one of these nights!
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