12/19/2008 7:00pm. Overcaffeinated in Baltimore MD.
Today began at 5:30 am, out the door by 6. I had heard that the NY metropolitan area was going to get hit with the storm early, so I wanted to get to my starting point in Jersey as soon as possible. The drive from Boston to NYC was surprisingly smooth. Absolutely no traffic, and no bad weather. There was that ghostly calm before the storm kind of feel the whole way down. I pulled over for a pit stop at the Vince Lombardi rest stop, a bit past the George Washington bridge, and noticed the first few snowflakes. Not 20 minutes later, I was at my starting destination, and the snow was really coming down hard. Tough to imagine I'll be in sunny Florida just a few days from now.
Musically speaking, I chose to begin the trip with the Stones. Between the Buttons was my pick. That one gets overlooked because of all the other great records they put out just before & after, but it definitely stands on its own. Next, I wanted something from Jersey, but the Boss would have been way too easy. I went with Skid Row's excellent self titled debut (though definitely had to skip over a couple pieces of garbage on that one).
When I crossed the PA state line, the snow turned to pouring rain. The route went through the outskirts of Philadelphia. I figured Coltrane, being a Phili native would be a good representative of the city for my stereo. So there it is, sorry Jersey, you get Skid Row, Philli gets Coltrane.
Other things I remember listening to:
The Doors - Waiting for the Sun --and I clearly was, to no avail.
The Stooges - Fun House --speaks for itself
Zeppelin - Physical Graffitti --God damn, I forgot how sick this record was!
Nothing very exciting to report road attraction-wise. Lots of Dunkin Donuts, WaWa's, Walmarts, Borders...you understand. I took a couple of pictures, but the visibility was pretty awful.
The rain stayed with me right through the Mason Dixon line, represented here with Maryland's welcome sign. I have to say though that that is a mere technicality. The south doesn't start in my mind until after DC. A text msg came in from Boston inviting me to a bar some friends go to to bear out the major storms. They must be getting hit hard.
Driving into Baltimore brought back memories. I spent a good amount of time here with my old rock & roll band. It's a rough town. One of those cities with a small historic/financial downtown section, and nothing but severe poverty surrounding it - at least that's all I've ever seen.
Route 1 doesn't try to sneak around the ghetto in this city, as major routes often do. It's depressing seeing boarded up buildings and people getting wasted on every corner before the sun is down.
Speaking of which, the sun began going down while I was stuck in congested traffic leaving the city. If you read my first post, you know that rules are rules, and I stay where the sun sets, so I'm writing this from the room I just checked in to. I'm about to go downtown and walk around...maybe take a few photos. I'll include them in this post if I do.
Oh, also, the lady on the local NPR station said that Baltimore's Mayor declared either today or yesterday (I forgot which one), official Frank Zappa day in the city. Too bad I don't have any Zappa on my ipod to listen to...too bad Baltimore's Mayor doesn't think she has other shit to do.
10:30pm
OK, I'm back. Went downtown and walked around aimlessly, basically following wherever I saw lights. Took a few photos, but none came out well, so I won't bother posting. I need to learn to use my camera better at night. Saw some cool ships by the harbor, then walked inland and stumbled on to some street with about 5,000 strip clubs. The door guy from one yelled out at me that his club was of free admission, and that they have pretty girls inside. What he didn't know is that I fucking hate stip clubs, & would rather chew on my own foot than pay money to see a dirty prostitute's genitalia. I told him I was allright, kind of feeling cool, like Axl Rose at the beginning of the Welcome to the Jungle video when he gets off the bus to LA and immediately says no to the drug dealer.
I also accidently walked by The Sidebar, which is a club I played at a couple of times. There was a band playing, but I didn't feel like going in. The first time we played there, people were really getting into it & smashing beer bottles in an area in front of the stage (sign of solidarity, i guess).
But at the end of our set, our singer fell into the glass, probably half on purpose, and ended up in the emergency room conveniently located just up the street at the reknowned Johns Hopkins Medical Center.
I need to put my head down. Looking forward to DC & Virginia tomorrow.
this is a solid first road post. the mixture of road photos, musical selections, and on-foot impressions is excellent.
ReplyDeletei was supposed to fly out of boston this morning, but my flight was delayed, and then i ended up missing the later one because of some incompetent ticket agent. back home, looking at snow date options with logan. looks like i'll be heading to matt murphy's for some rabbit pie after all, which was my first big snow of the season plan all along.
a note re: nighttime photography. if you have manual overrides, turn off the flash, slow down the shutter speed, and it will probably help to crank the ISO up a bit (though the more you do that the more the photos will be grainy). you need a miniature tripod really, but in lieu of that, you should set the camera on a solid surface when you're pushing the button so that it doesn't shake with the long shutter speed (this could be against the wall, on the top of your beer bottle, on top of a news box, etc... just something steady).
and lastly, a request: does your camera take video? as a reader, it would be pretty rad to be able to see a quick clip of a native of each area, interviewed with a set series of questions... what they love best about their town, and some memory involving the route you're on... shit like that. while not necessary, it would be rad to have your experiences as well as a little local flavor as far as the route.
keep writing my friend. i will have intermittent internet access as well, but will check your progress as much as is possible.
onward!