Up The Middle

This weekend was wild to say the least and now i sit here and type a few highlights to unwind. Friday night we ended up downtown (us. downtown. drinking. never :) for the monthly bar crawl. Our man marshall ruffin opened as per usual, an excellent blues-inspired muscian whom you can find on myspace if interested. The reggae band wasn't all that good though, not mention they sound checked late, they spent ages trying to rig extra mics and stage lights, and didn't get on stage till damn near 11, which left me with the feeling they were primadonnas more there to be seen than heard. So we ditched out early an hit our lcoal irish establishment. 

On our way home we saw the real life malibu barbie. No shit, she was probably six foot and 100 pounds, bleach blonde curls, and was talking at such a high pitch to her commrades when she passed us that i swear dogs started howling. The voice is what sent it over the top- total valley girl. She passed and Lace imitated her voice and we started cracking up and the two guys walking in front of us started cracking too. *Whats that hissing sound, oh just the air leaking from yr head.* In hindsight Lace should have stopped her and said "OMG i had you as a toy when i was a little girl. Can i have your autograph!" And watched as the preplexed look spread across her face....

Saturday we encountered our first hustlers (your "friendly," fast talking street salesman and women) since living here. We're actually surprised we've went this long. Although i grew up in a small town, i know this to be part of city life and have experienced my fair share- New Orleans, Atlanta, Savannah, D.C., etc. The cake was taken by one of the "shoe shine" guys in NO who after being told no, told a joke which was actually pretty damn funny, and before we were laughing good was shining my boots. He wanted $20, i gave him $5 for creativity (i had already said no). Saturday nights guys wanted to sell us a rap cd, espousing how 10% went to charity and blahblahblah, talking wayyy too fast, and trying to walk us up against the buildings to make us stop. To boot he pulled the "only ten dollar" cd out of his back pocket and it didn't even have a sleeve. Yeah buddy i'm buying that- sure and i'll play it at my beach house in arizona! I didn't feel the least bit sorry a) b/c i knew he was lying b) if yr so good or trying to promote yrself, get a gig at one of the clubs- i don't buy without hearing first. Not to mention he seemed to only have one, and suspicously $10 wouldhave gotten him and his buddy into most any bar/club downtown. A sucker might be born every minute, but this isn't my time.

I blame L for the hounding because she spoke and shook his hand when he first spoke. Now most of the time i can spot these people a mile away, i don't make eye contact and i don't speak. Oh no, L is too nice, in all seriousness. They followed us too when we kept walking, which made me uneasy b/c i feel like soem of these guys are not above the next thing after con which is rob. Fortunately for us downtown is heavily policed by our finest and MP's. After we had left them a block back i asked why did u even stop. And she said something to the effect of i didn't know they were selling something. Strange guys late at night wanting to be friendly- they want something. And she grew up here, you'd think she could recognize the hustlers- i can. Meh, i guess some ppl just don't have a knack for that sort of thing. No harm , no foul and we enjoyed the rest of the night getting toasty and people watching at our regular spot, even if the band did play almost the same exact set list as the last time they performed back in august.

Fairs and other such adventures occured in between but i'm hungry so more later...perhaps :)