Take The Money And Run?

 Clandestine Jaunts To New Orleans And Back Considered

Maybe the best way to get out of Baton Rouge would be to 
 dip into the "money pool" of New Orleans, to acquire
 traveling funds....
I look the "worse for wear" in this photo, taken the week before
my exodus; but; I was started to get 20 dollar tips, like the one
in my case, with regularity; at my "priviledged" spot...

 There is a corrolation between how much money I have
in my pocket when I lay down at night, and how depressed I feel the times I wake up during the night.
Yesterday, upon arriving back in Scotlandville, on the #10 bus, I encountered Howard, who was at the boarded up building, eating Cheetoz and drinking an IceHouse 24 oz. beer.
I had 41 cents on me.
He gave me a dollar, so I could have one beer.
I drank the beer and then came here to the library, to e-mail Martin in West Virginia the address of my "general delivery" post office box downtown.
Guy In PT Cruiser Doesn't Yield
I then went to the convenience store, where the guy who sells CDs and movies was cranking his music out the back of his PT Cruiser.
In the past, he had offered to turn the music down, so that I could set up further down the sidewalk and try to make a few tips. He didn't do so, and instead, seemed to be rapping along with the music and emphasizing lyrics which I could have construed as being directed at me, lines like "You need to get outta here!" come to mind....
I sat there anyway, thinking that someone might throw me a dollar after having heard me play another time, or by merely seeing me as someone who probably lives on the money he makes as a street musician, and thinking that, maybe I was just waiting for the guy who was cranking his music to leave, then I would play.
I took out my notebook and started composing some rhymes of my own, just to pass the time (with a ball point pen -that kind of notebook). The guy who owns the store stepped out for a minute and asked me if I was writting music.
I told him that I was, indeed and read him a little bit of what I had written. Something like:
I should be sittin' by the fire
wearing clean attire
instead of playing for bills
to get a beer to cure my ills
doing songs by Steven Stills... 
"You want a beer?" he asked. ...sure, that's about all I was hoping to get out of this....
Recipe For The Blues
After I drank the beer that he bought me, the guy with the CDs began to pack up his stuff, and he soon left.
It was 8:30 p.m. and I figured he was leaving because he knew that it was going to be pretty slow the rest of the night.
I did likewise, plannin upon an early start the next (this) morning.
I went back behind the boarded up building and grilled hamburgers, using seasoned salt, Tobbasco, catsup, and pickles, and barbeque sauce (not necessarily in that order) and ate them.
I went to sleep on a full stomach and with only 41 cents in my pocket. I had strange tortured nightmares all night, waking up several times feeling depressed.
Fox Highlight Of Night
At one point a fox or something was licking the grease off of the tin pan that I had cooked on; that was pretty cool. It took off like a rocket when I turned my head to look at it, whatever it was....
7 Dollars Highlight Of Morning
I woke up around the time that Howard did; drank down an energy drink; skipped reading the sports section of the paper, and went right to the convenience store, where, after a slow start, I made about 7 dollars and change in about an hour.
I bought a pack of cigarettes (having gone all night without one) and have about 5 bucks left.
I plan to go back and play some more, because Man cannot live on a pack of cigarettes alone...
This Friday and Saturday nights, I'll be going downtown to play as long as I can stand it; even if I have to take breaks in between.


I'm sure I had been playing for only about
an hour and a half to make about 45 bucks, plus,
free beer and food and...

 Nola Diamond In Rough?
I could take the 5 dollar bus to New Orleans, as the guy at The Guitar Center had suggested; play a few sets in The French Quarter, and then take the 5 dollar bus back here.
As long as I don't break any laws, the guy at The Guitar Center informed me, the cops would have no reason to ID me and discover that I have one unpaid ticket, and throw me in jail.
Maybe the best way to get out of Baton Rouge is by dipping into the money pool of New Orleans, to get travelling funds....