This Day In History

On This Day
1 Year Ago:

 I was in jail in Baton Rouge, serving 45 days for "disturbing the peace/public intoxication" after I had admitted to a cop that I had had a 24 oz beer after he asked me "Have you been drinking? It smells like it.."

The streets of that city were swept clean of all homeless types the second week in August in anticipation of the LSU homecoming game and the arrival of all the alumnus and fans from both schools.
One guy was serving 45 days for littering, after he opened a pack of cigarettes and then threw the cellophane on the ground.

  2 Years Ago:  

I had just arrived in New Orleans for the first time in my life and I had just met Sue, the Colombian lady; who would become my on-again, off-again girlfriend during the next year; for the first time in my life.

We had passed a couple nights in the marble stairwell of the Marriot Hotel, sleeping on (separate) pieces of cardboard, while a mean tropical storm raged outside.

I want to say that it was tropical storm "Lee."

Sue had her cat, Cookie with her in a cat carrier the size of a mailbox...

I had only been in New Orleans a couple of weeks at that point and the tropical storm put me out of work busking for a few days.
A guy at Starbucks let me use his laptop to e-mail my mother; asking her to send money.
Since I was in a new and strange (and reputedly dangerous) city; and had a new girlfriend, whom I wanted to protect and nurture (and who had a cat to feed), I was able to plead my case and soon 75 dollars was on its way. I wouldn't have to ask again for at least a year...

A picture from that era, which I will call  
"the camouflaged canvas safari hat" era.

4 Years Ago: 

I was in jail in Saint Augustine, Florida, (shown above) serving 76 days for a long list of atrocities; like trespassing and open container violations..

The cops in that city, especially the ones on bicycles, would actually follow the homeless people around, spy upon them with binoculars; and tip-toe around behind buildings trying to catch them drinking or urinating or smoking pot.

Out of the 7 violations that I had; most of them were from the same officer Caroll; who pursued myself and my then girlfriend, Karrie around.

We were given trespassing tickets for sitting one foot behind an "imaginary line" which the officer said ran around the perimeter of the parking garage..."this side is city property; this side is public..." 

I was busking and Karrie was sitting next to me, and at a certain hour we slid ourselves back a couple feet because the sun was hitting us.

The cop was up on the third level of the garage watching the shadows creep and waiting for us to either do that or to open the pint of whiskey which we had.

3 Years Ago: I was in Mobile, Alabama, and had just witnessed their Labor Day Parade and was disgusted by how selfish and greedy were the entire families who scrapped over the candy and junk which was thrown from floats...pushing and shoving and grabbing.

Goodnight, readers...

5 Years Ago
I don't know what exactly I did on this day; but I was in Jacksonville, Florida, where I started busking and where a Morrocan lady who worked at a certain Circle K store actually encouraged myself and my friend Larry to busk out front.
We split anywhere from 35 to 75 dollars per night, playing a couple hours each.
People were starting to tell us "You should go to Saint Augustine," (where all the street musicians go).