Nashvegas...part 2

I took off for Nashville again this weekend...two times in the past couple months...is it really worth the 16 hour round trip drive? Of course not.

But my road trip partner and I did learn a couple invaluable lessons.

1. I should probably get in the biz of booking college music festivals, because no one in there right mind would book Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to play at a rich Southern university and expect anything other than a hoard of fratabulous drunkards screaming for them to leave the stage 15 seconds into their first song. Yes...they were playing outside...and yes, it's tough as hell to sound good in any outdoor setting...but geez, at least give them a chance before projecting your beer can at the lead singer's head.

2. Nashville is incredibly small. I think Chicago has given me some real city perspective, but wow. Regardless, there are some hidden gems other than the glowing "World's Largest Adult Bookstore" that sits off I-40 as you enter the city. I suggest, the gyro joint next to Elder's bookstore on Elston Ave. You can't go wrong for $4.

3. Indiana is a terrible state to drive through....except when it is a crystal clear day and I can photograph the power lines against an amazing sunset. I'm fascinated with power lines...it's the whole connected aspect. Well worth it.

4. Apparently in the south, it's completely acceptable to be 35 years-old and reference your father as "pappy." I thought it was strange, but was I really going to question the nice 350 pound man engaging me in conversation after an obvious night out of boozing? Not this time.

5. I'm obsessed with the Magnetic Fields' "Papa was a rodeo" and it can easily be listened to 25 times in a row while driving through Kentucky. I tried it... Happens.

-B