An Excuse To Pick Me Off

• Howard Disappears
• Depressed Birthday
• Going Mobile

It's kind of strange how I feel pressed for time and think that I have to make this post brief.

Last night, I ran into an old acquaintance, someone whom I had played the guitar for before and someone, whom I think gave me 20 bucks once, after hearing me play.

He was on the street with a harmonica, broke and trying to play for beer money. (No 20 dollars tonight, sorry)

We sat and played in front of Bier Garten, which used to be Hop Jacks and we made about 10 bucks. The guy was extremely outgoing.

There weren't many people out at all, but the guy, whose name I forget would whistle to get people's attention and then point to the guitar case, saying things like: "A dollar, just a dollar for a beer, will it kill you?!?"

If You've Seen Him, Comment. You May Remain Anonymous.

What happened, though was, after the beer store (with the cheaper beer) closed, the guy kept grabbing 3 dollars at a time and running into a bar across the street and then emerging with one bottle of Miller High Life, which we would then share.

I thought we sounded OK (two harmonicas, guitar and vocal) and I think one guy in particular put a couple dollars in the case just because of the music; my partner hadn't gotten a chance to chat him up and work him over because he came from around a corner.

At one point we stopped playing and the guy invited me to sleep in his boat, which was "harbored" behind a pawn shop which was more than a mile away. He said that his apartment was "just two doors down" from where the boat sat; and he promised me breakfast in the morning.

I decided not to take him up on thes offer, partly because a lot of peoples idea of "breakfast" consists of foods that get my day off to a terrible start (sausage egg cheese muffins -not the food of champions, in my opinion).
East Of Broad Street

Then, I went and found no trace of Howard at the Episcopal Church spot. His mat and his pillow were nowhere to be seen, and it looked suspicious and reeked of foul play. Some of the homeless had warned us about sleeping anywhere "east of Broad Street," and the fact that I have seen no signs of homeless people (beer cans, cigarette butts, used toilet paper laying on the ground -sorry if that's to much detail) at any of the "usual" sleeping spots makes me believe that the cops have been sweeping them off the streets and forcing them west of Broad Street

So, Howard may be in jail; and that may give me the chance to fly solo, which is something that has always held as much appeal to me as the having of a road buddy for added safety and companionship. Depending upon which way I decide to go, Howard might become like a ball and chain.

The Final Contestents

Key West -I thought about Key West, Florida, I have heard good things and bad things, such as "Rich homosexual men are really good tippers, especially if you are playing Elton John or David Bowie" and "The cops have no tollerance for the homeless and there's nowhere you can go to avoid them; it's a small island," to quote a couple...
Atlanta, Georgia (to look for Karrie, an estranged girlfriend) I thought about going to Atlanta, I had heard good things about it "You can play in a place called 5 points in Cobb County and there are plenty of venues, the Falcons, Hawks and Braves all play there, and so there are frequently crowds of people.
But, my relationship with Karrie, while better than loneliness, was not perfect, and I don't want to feel like I am taking a step backwards and conceding any progress that I might have made since I left her.

Tucson Arizona

I have a couple friends there, and as a winter spot, I don't recall ever reading about them finding bodies frozen to death on the street there; impaled upon cactus maybe, but not frozen...

California

Probably where I am going to wind up anyways. I think I have been a displaced Californian my whole life. Alex From California, a blog reader and constant commenter is of the opinion that I would do better out there, even if I sound as bad as I do on my crappy recordings in the sidebar to the left...

Mobile News

Just an appendix: This particular Lieutenant was pretty good to me a couple years ago, after a certain cop, who was a rookie and working the Beerfest detail; told me that I couldn't busk. The cop had been told to walk around looking out for panhandlers and running them off. He confused me with one of their ilk.

I made a sign and sat by my guitar, still in its case, with the sign on it, reading "Cops won't let me play."

The Lieutenant came by and saw the sign; got on his radio briefly; then turned to me and said "Go ahead and play all you wan't."

I saw him Sunday night on my way back to the Episcopal spot. He was in the middle of arresting a lady for "public intoxication."

"You've got to be joking, there's 20 thousand drunk people out here," said the lady; referring to the Bayfest Music Festival crowd.

The Lieutenant said to me, as I walked past: "Oh, I see you made it back to Mobile!" He said it contemptuously, as if to mean "that's all we need is one more homeless guy..."

Well, the next day Lieutenant Merton shot and killed himself in his home.

It's just ONE more homeless guy, I thought....

There are a bunch of horse cops lined up in this park and I am getting out of here before they use some kind of 21 gun salute as an excuse to pick me off...