Another day on the road.

This past weekend I played a benefit concert at Mother Earth in Lake Worth, FL. The benefit was hosted by Miss Cleo herself. Long ago, in a land far far away, I remember staring mesmerized at the late night infomercial where she would jovially exclaim “Call me na for ya free readin!’”

I used to imagine the glorious revelations Miss Cleo had in store for me “Oh meh dear! You goin to be da mos famous rock star ya are!” As I sat in Mother Earth years later, waiting for my performance to start, I thought to myself “That lady seems a lot like Miss Cleo.” I was thrilled when my suspicions were confirmed. We had a wonderful time after the show drinking rum, discussing mercury retrograde and what the future holds for us. People often ask if we meet a lot of interesting people on the road. Of course we do! We meet wild, beautiful people all the time, including THE Miss Cleo.

“Oh, isn’t this funny” was our attitude when we first noticed that the parking lot was flooded.  After all, we weren’t in the middle where the water was deepest.  In fact, we found a nice island on which to park the scamp.  Little waves were crashing right outside door in an area we called ‘The Shore’.   We put on our crocks and proceeded to wade through the tropically temperate, ankle deep water to the Barnes and Noble where we’d wait out the storm and get some quality internet time in.    A few hours passed and we realized that the storm was getting worse and wasn’t going to pass any time soon.  As we started the wade back to the camper we were shocked to find that the tide had come in, the shore had disappeared and the newly formed sea was about level with the door!  “We need to get to higher ground!” I shouted over pounding rain as I tried to gauge if the tailpipe would be completely submerged.  The verdict was: yes it would be underwater.  Our only hope was to go it at a steady pace and create enough wake behind the car to keep the pipe clear.  With Laurel at the helm we miraculously made it out!  Soon we were passing parking lots that were much worse off than the one we had just narrowly escaped.  We started seeing abandoned cars with water up to the headlights and I knew things were getting serious.  If this was going to be a matter of survival then so be it!  We shall prevail!  “Stick to the left lane!” I shouted to my able helmsman as I attempted to capture the drama on camera.  “Aye aye Captain!”    We decided to alter our current course from North East (toward the next gig) to due West where we hoped to find refuge above sea level.  After thirty minuets of navigating the banks of roads that had been torrentially transformed into rivers complete with swift currents, countless emergency vehicles and hastily abandoned cars – the flood was behind us and we were sopping up water off the camper floor.  We certainly suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome the next day but we recounted it as swashbuckling pirates facing a fierce squall.  We made it out alive with our ship intact, our treasures abundant and another true tale of adventure on the high seas.  What more could a couple of  road-warriors ask for?

Woke up this morning to a warm ocean breeze filling the Scamp with sublime happiness on this 15th of December, then spent the rest of the hot Southern Florida day at Hallandale Beach just North of Miami. 87º F is nothing compared to the summers here but as a hearty New Englander anything above 80º F seems oppressive. When we bought the Scamp we decided to get an awning instead of an air conditioner which may have been a better choice!  Anyway, a cool dip in the Atlantic Ocean seems to wash away even the most stubborn tarnish afflicting my spirit.  I can’t even remember what I was stressing about yesterday. Was that yesterday? Who knows? Who cares? Let’s hit the beach again.

I was going to copy and paste some old blogs from myspace when the thought struck me – “Why don’t I start anew?”  A fresh new post for a fresh new page.  Four hours from now I will be performing at Pegasus Lounge in Tampa, FL.  I always have a healthy sense of anxiety before performing at a new venue but I am currently freakin out.  Maybe it’s because it’s raining and Floridians seem completely incapable of leaving their homes in the slightest bit of inclement weather or maybe it’s because my only guaranteed payment for tonight is two pitchers of beer and it only takes half a pint to set me drunk.  No one ever said show biz was easy but really now – how come it only seems to pour when I have a ‘big’ show?

I’m the hiphopopotamus. My lyrics are bottomless.