Tarasaurus Wreckx

i love roller derby.

Saw my first bout last weekend between both of Nashville's Roller Girl teams, Damsels of Distress and Assault Rivals. Check out some pics of their dual.

The bout was WILD! These girls can kick asses! There were shoving and elbowing and rippin' fishnets and getting burned. At one point, my favorite lady, Lady Fury slid into the announcers table and knocked off all the equipment, including a laptop!

So I got a little adrenaline rush and thought maybe I should just become a Roller Girl. Of course, skating isn't my forte, nor is kicking asses... So maybe I could just be a Jeerleader. I can jump up and down and hula hoop and wear blue wigs!

Some of their names were pretty awesome : Chinese Checker (chinese girl), Maulin Monroe, Cocky Mtn. Mama, Fleetwood Smack. Jeff has already created his psuedo nashvillian roller derby dude name : Johnny Crash

Me : Tarasaurus Wreckx

Red Doors, etc.

Life in the Bible Belt aint so bad when it involves Yazoo Pale Ale's, Red Doors, big 'ol lightning and new friends.

Sans Houses

I discovered this lady's project Sans Houses the other day. She documented fine folks without homes in Nashville.

Her photography is gorgeous and real. Be sure to listen to the audio clips too -

Lack of Power + Lack of JetPack

An open mic at Cafe Coco to see roomie belt out sad drinking songs. A dude played after her and caught my attention with his sweet whistl'in and songs about Tennessee's beauty. He ended up saying hi to me later, and we got lost in talk of adventures and hills and rainforestry and bears.

He'd been traveling from Victoria, British Columbia for no reason at all, other than to try and record some stuff, maybe. He'd won some free wine at a fancy restaurant here, so he asked if I'd join in the fun with him. We show up at the place (not knowing it was nearly as fancy as it was) and got a few funny looks, so decided to hide on the outdoor patio. Tornado warnings and crazy high winds weren't really distracting, but a little more exciting. The power at the place ended up going out and all was pitch black. People were freaking out, but it was totally cooler.

He'd only be here for a few more days, so we enjoyed each other's company while we could. We walked a dog and swinged on swings and went to an old bar with old people playing good songs (again, we didn't fit in) and talked to a real nice dude that likes Jethro Tull.

Seems I'm gettin' used to this livin life fast (!) thing with fellers I get interested in. And they all live on the complete other side of the country.

No day trips to the West Coast unless I find my JetPack...

Flux

Its been too long since I'd seen the country.

Nick Meyer, a beloved bud from back in Wisconsin suggested I go see Derrick Brown do his thang right here in Tennessee. He'd be at Arrington Vineyards for an outdoor poem excursion with beautiful sunsets, wine and fires and folks of all sorts.

I took the trek through saturated green hills, picket fences and horse stables aplenty. I could feel my recent tightnesses loosen and release. I realized I hadn't seen the country, green hills, and big 4-leggeds for far too long. I had found some kind of peace! Finally!

Derrick Brown was no less than amazing. A funny dude, perfect for the setting. A 20-something-people mix of elders and folks like me that I haven't found yet here. I met a nice old couple, Ed 'n Billie, who found my recent move fascinating. They shared all their favorite TN adventure spots and we cheer's to travel and adventuring into unknown territory.

I left with my new music obsession playing in the hills of TN he often speaks of. I was thinking about future unknown territories and questioning everything when this song played : Justin Earle - I Don't Care.

Right on brutha.

The first lights of Nashville were annoying, so I drove more in the country (thanks to roomies GPS tracker!) to avoid my bed and familiarity of the city.

I know for sure what it is now, where I'm supposed to be!

Somewhere else

grandpa's sad heart could beat no longer.
now he sleeps with her again
on clouds much softer I suppose.

wet cheeked

I first recall life in Nashville with Davin (aww Davin!) at the 3 Crow Bar hearing The Felice Brothers. We wet our pants and giddied over these 4 brothers (1 pseudo, Christmas Felice) and their way of dancin and singin and wittying up the crowd with their fine country/americana tunes. Sure, we were obsessed.

They came again last Thursday night. I got re-obsessed (though I never truly fell out of obsession) after seeing their fun ways. Justin Townes Earle (Steve Earles babe) finished up with oh-so-sweet songs with a little now-ish stuff and a little then-ish stuff.

My bum week became much sunnier after Thursday night, and I wanted to share it with some folks I find especially special in TN. The Felice Brothers were to play a Friday luncheon show at Grimey's Record Store! Promises from TN buds to share my excitement, promises broken with lame excuses and unwillingness for new and exciting breaks from the 8:30-5:30 monotony. Once again I got real down about my current friend state, and remember some key folks from The Great White North (as they refer to it down here). Talks with Cord about moving on from past friend adventures and relishing new friend adventures is hard when new friend adventures aren't always sweet.

Either way I came out of the deal with smiles of my own experiences from adventures I chose to take part in. 'Spose things will always be happy and well if I just follow me own gut.