Louisiana

I wish it was easier to put pictures up on here. It's not that hard, I guess I mean I wish I had the camera, because it's not too difficult to put them on here once the camera is around. It's much more fun to point things out in photos.

We're at Birdman Coffee/Books in St. Francisville, LA. It's a very tiny town, about 30 minutes north of Baton Rouge. It's not even on the map in our car (which is a great map). We played tonight in front of a packed room of 25 or so people who were incredibly attentive and very excited. It was another un-mic'd show - those are usually the most fun, because you can hear everything well. And there's no soundboard for the soundman to not be running when he doesn't show up.

There was a blinding light shining on me throughout the entire show, giving me a terrible headache. I also was pre-occupied with thoughts of the peach cobbler that the owner (Lynn) made that afternoon. I told her I'd have some after the show, which was a huge mistake, because it's all I could think about. Boy did it live up to expectations. I have a wicked stomach ache at the moment.

One of the men at the show talked to me about how he worked in Baton Rouge as a drafter for about 20 years, hated it, then bought a piece of land "about 30 minutes east of here in the country," built a house on it by himself ("No, I had no idea what I was doing. But I kinda know what a house is like, so I just kinda built one."). He now bakes his own bread, bringing the number of self-sufficient breadmakers that I've met on this trip up to two. He also rides a scooter everywhere, so as to save money on gas. He totally rules. Here's his website, I haven't been to it yet, but I imagine it's zany.

Mobile, Alabama is really cool. Celebrating Mardi Gras originated there. Neat. "It's like a little New Orleans." I think we've heard that about 15 times in the last month, but it seems kinda true for Mobile.

We stayed with Dylan's friend Lance in Hammond, LA. Lance is an upstanding country gentleman from the Louisiana countryside who refers to everyone (regardless of gender) as "love" or "babe." His family owns a 9-hole golf course. About six years ago, he turned on the television and happened upon a soccer game. He had never seen much soccer, but fell in love with it, and now is the head coach of the high school soccer team. Somewhere down the line, he plans on moving to Liverpool, England, so he can marry a wonderful pale-faced British woman and go see the Liverpool soccer team as much as he wants. Lance is marvelous.

Tomorrow we drive to Austin for South By Southwest.

Tonight I will sleep in a bed, for the first time in a long time. I can't even figure out when the last time was that I slept in a bed. I'm too tired to calculate. However, after tonight, I don't think I'll be sleeping in a bed for the next 6-7 nights. Boom.