Saturna

our trip to nashville was whirlwind fun. after cleaning two houses thursday, i showered and we loaded everything into mom's car and went to meet jason, who had an unexpected trip to the doctor (he is fine). we said our goodbyes and took off. jah isaac was a little cranky, but i expected this, having not had a nap. this was intentional on my part, for i wanted him to sleep for part of the drive. after a short while on the road he passed out for over an hour. we made good time, and while he was awake, he had a blast trashing his quarter of my mom's car and calling for "my audey."

my brother's neighborhood is near Belmont University and not far from Vanderbilt. it was a quaint little area the reminded me of Cooper-Young, my favorite area of memphis. he and his wife Audrey live in a cute duplex, where they have half of the first floor and the whole second floor, a perfect front porch and a great big backyard with a hammock (and a lawnmower that the baby immediately decided was his).

we relaxed for a bit and sampled some beer from the local brewery, which was very good. before long i had to get ready to go play, as my friend Isaac was allowing me to guest on his weekly night at Virago. colin and audrey came with me and we also picked up a friend of theirs, joey. Virago was much like dish - very loungey, beautiful design. i played for about two hours and had a great time with it. someone came up at one point and asked "could you play something i can dance to?" i just smiled and said, "you cannot dance to this?" isaac apologized and i told him it was not necessary, that at least she did not ask for MJ or blondie, and that i am very used to that type of environment.

once i was done, i followed isaac to check out the new club, Layla Rul, opened by the owners of virago. it is a piece of artwork in the form of a lounge/club. it is a fantastic space, and i hope that they can get folks to dance in there, rather than just sit and drink. the design would allow for a kicking party. one thing i noticed at both places is that the staff was the most attentive i have ever experienced - ashtrays appearing out of nowhere, anyone walking by your table paying attention to if you need something - and i made sure to tell the owner how nice this was.

i got back to colin's about 2am, and jah isaac had been an angel for his weezer - they watched incredibles and he passed out on the couch with her. i was so glad. my mom gets worn out easily and i didn't want to find out she had had a hard time. we three got into bed in the guest bedroom and i crashed within about three minutes, the next morning my mom telling me that she was poking me to ask me something and i did not come close to moving. no surprise, considering i had had two hours of sleep, worked all day, drove the rest of the day, then played and stayed out.

my brother went to work at some obscenely early hour, and was already home napping by the time i woke up on friday. there was no creamer so i ran to a coffeeshop to get some caffeine - plus i just wanted to check out the coffeeshop, being the addict that i am. by the time the weekend was over i had tried and enjoyed three coffeeshops within a three block area, none of which were corporately owned. very refreshing.

mom, audrey, isaac and i did a little shopping (or at least, mom did) and got a bite to eat. i then dropped them off back at the house and went record shopping at Spun. i found quite a few older pieces and swooped them up. that is the wonderful thing about house music to me, any music really, that good is good, regardless of age. colin and audrey cooked a wonderful dinner and then i also hit up tower and bought a few new pieces there, having found out that someone reliable is the vinyl buyer there. i actually had to leave a few pieces there due to funds. still a good take on records for the trip. i only spent my money on coffee, food, and records.

friday night, jah isaac crashed quickly because he had been too worked up to take a nap, and i drove to west nashville to catch a small party. when i walked in it was a country-esque band and i was really confused, but at midnite, they finished and the deejays and performers took over. there were two guys doing some intelligent hip-hop for a few tracks, and then some local house deejays who did a good job. i managed to connect with some folks i had played for a few years ago in nashville, after some initial confusion. had some good conversations. they wanted me to play their after party but i had to get home to my angelmuffin. of course, i took the wrong exit and ended up taking the whole loop around nashville, but that was not entirely unpleasant as it sent me back in time to the days when i used to drive to louisville by myself to hear some wonderful deejay and dance sober for eight hours straight.

we all slept in saturday and then went to a mom and pop breakfast place, after a debacle at a place that was supposed to be the 'best in nashville.' i guess that moniker has gone to that place's head, for they were really rude to us. the place we ended up was where we needed to be anyway. we loaded up and drove home, and jah isaac was great again in the car. any more than three hours i am not so sure he would handle, but he only got antsy the last 30 minutes. he was very upset when his weebee left since he had gotten used to her constant presence, and he has been calling for "my audey" ever since we got home. i played dish, and was very wiped out, and slept late on sunday.

i had a great time, though it is somewhat stressful to travel with a child, regardless of how well he acted. the forethought of what to bring when i have always been used to just throwing stuff in a bag and taking off, plus the constant attention in a non-child-proofed house was a little taxing. i still enjoyed being in another place.

i was very impressed with nashville. it seemed very clean. there were bike lanes on almost all of the streets in my brother's area, something unheard of in memphis. lots of new businesses and just a general good energy. plus, it was about 5 degrees and 15 percent less humidity on a weekend that memphis set record highs for both. i am hoping that jason and i will be able to go visit while jah isaac stays with his big daddy sometime in october. i would like to eat at a nice restaurant, take my time, go out until i want to come home, and jah isaac needs to experience just a small bit of separation and the experience of being a big boy and not nursing for a few days.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2005 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Family, Journal, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.