The Expedition to Cumberland Ave: A Search for the Soul of a Dying Culture

Last night..scratch that a few weeks ago... after my post work nap, I traveled down to campus (specifically The Strip) in order to grab some food, and listen to some music. As I was searching for a parking spot, I realized that I didn't really need to search all that hard; and as I was walking to BW3's I realized it didn't seem as busy I as I remembered it being back when I was a frequent visitor of the Strip on Monday Nights after band practice.

It seems weird for me to start anything with the following phrase "Years ago" but I'm going to do it anyway.

Years ago, when I was playing in a ska band and living the posh lifestyle of a student lifeguard, I used to frequent a little slice of heaven known as "the strip." Now it's never been a secret that I don't drink, but that has never kept me from heading out to have a good time with my friends. Anyway, as time passed my ska band broke up, I received my Bachelor's degree, and hung up my whistle, and my friends who used to drag me to the strip moved away, and now instead, I get dragged to the Old City or to various other establishments throughout West Knoxville, with a whole different set of people.

Well last night (or whenever I started writing this) I decided that I wanted listen to some live music, and it being Monday night I did what anyone would do, and made my way down to BW3's to listen to the soothing sounds of Tall Paul. I arrived at 9:30 pm, a time when I thought Paul would be well into his first set and I could sit with some friends eat some chicken and relax.

On my way to the strip, I was mentally preparing for bedlam, not just at Wild Wings, but everywhere on the strip. To say the previous night - at Tall Paul's Quaker Steak Set - had been rawkous would be a gross understatement. When I arrived I found a much different scene than the one I had in my head. A desolate ghost town, a skeleton, a shell - of the raucous and rambunctious "side of town" that I had once frequented.

As I entered Wild Wings I sat down with Joe and Paul, two veterans of the music scene and Knoxville in general, and we began talking, which got my mind going and before I knew it I was thinking (as I sometimes have a tendency to do) about the Strip and how it was in a downturn, a spiral if you will. And I began to think why? It took me all of, 1.2 seconds to realize why. The strip has no soul. Plain and simple, there are only a handful of establishments on the strip with soul and those are slowly dying, those with the most soul are already dead.

The few places on the strip that are unique only to the strip, (e.g. Old College Inn, Tap Room, Longbranch, Sunspot) are truly great places. These places are cool, genuinely cool, like James Dean or Elvis in his prime, just plain cool, because they are unique. With very few exceptions these places are the same they've been for years. You cannot go anywhere else in the world and have the same experience. And sadly these original establishments that reside on the strip are fading fast. These places are disappearing like the sunlight when all you want is one more at bat before you have to go inside.

They are being replaced with chains; available in every suburban shopping mall, airport, interstate exit, and turnpike. Why are there 5 chicken joints (let it be known I never say joint, especially when referring to an eatery, but the connotation that comes along with referring to a restaurant as a joint is really impeccable in this context) within a 1 mile radius of one another? Why is there not one really great place to see a rock band any night of the week? Answer: Because America loves cash money and cash money is way easier to obtain through franchised restaurants and terrible terrible jukeboxes than it is through original establishments.

Sad but true. And I can't say I'm any better, every time I pass by the old O'Charley's I contemplate the start up capital and small business loan I would need to get that place off the ground with music, food, and drinks - but for me personally the risks outweigh the possible gain, at least for the moment. And at the moment, I'm not in the place to take those risks.

What I'm trying to say is that "the strip" was a genuinely cool place once upon a time, and has the potential to be that again. It's just that there's to much neon and drive through and not enough soul.

For now I guess will watch and wait as the Strip ebbs and flows again and hope that before long it will start to breathe again as only we - the old, the weathered, the long forgotten Alumni of UT and former/current residents of Knoxville - know that it can. Because it's clear that the strip will never entirely die, as sure as the sun sets the strip will be a place for people to be, even if it is with their head down in their fast food or double triple mocha lattes.

Lets all hope that a little more soul will take up resident on a stretch of Cumberland Ave. called "the strip." Because even though it's easier to die or get hurt when you have a soul, it's worth it. But that's another blog for another day.

So working a desk job has it's pros and cons. 1.a I know what I'm in for everyday, which is sometimes a pro, but more often a con. 1.b As a result of knowing what I'm in for, I can get my stuff done on the quick like. I could continue on and construct a list of the pros and cons of my work, but I'll save it for another day and another time. So like I said, "As a result..." I can get my stuff done and move on to important stuff, like cruising the interwebs.

What follows here is a list of the websites I use to help pass the time at work. Feel free to cruise them at your leisure. I don't check all of them everyday, but most of them do get at least a cursory glance at some point, during my average day.

Please note I left out the checking of my email and various social networking sites as I find those sites to be understood in the cruising of the interweb.

1. ESPN - Worldwide leader in sports, worldwide leader in awesome website. I use ESPN.com, to see what the "analysts" are saying about the Vols and Cardinals.
2. AbsolutePunk.net - All things punk rock and then some extra stuff. I've been checking this website, just about daily since I was a Freshman in college. So why should I stop know? By the way, this is where I discover tons of the bands I listen to.
3. The Daily Chorus - TDC is a new edition to my daily surfing, but it's great. Music an alternative viewpoint to the sometimes incredible bias that is AP.net. Another great way to find out about new music.
4. UniWatchBlog - "An obsessive study of sports aesthetics." These guys know everything you could possibly want to know about sport uniforms and even more. It sounds lame, but it's really interesting, even if you think you won't like it check it out.
5. Web Urbanist - Such a cool website. They do lists a lot, which I'm a big fan of. It's just really cool. Can't really explain it. Dig through the archives on the site and enjoy yourself. It's like the Discover Channel, only a website, cooler, and less popular, which therefore according to my scene point handbook makes it cooler.
6. Deputy Dog - Taken right from their website, "a frequently updated website dedicated to showcasing incredible examples of the world’s most fascinating architecture, inspirational design, phenomenal natural oddities….the list goes on...". I found this website via Web Urbanist. This site is like the Discovery Channel, that you only get on demand...or something like that.
6. Top Left Pixel - Incredible daily photoblog. If you've ever touched a camera, or taken a picture and thought "Wow that was a nice picture I just took." Go look at Sam's pictures and realize why we're not professional photographers.
7. Knowledge for Thirst - Cool website where these dudes review beverages, they haven't updated in a while, but there are tons of archives and it's interesting.
8. Coming Soon - News on upcoming movies. This website isn't an everyday visit, but it's def. cool.
9. Neat-O-Rama - Random stuff, and it's just that stuff. I just found this website, but it looks like it might quick become one of my favorites, despite it's name.
10. Wikipedia - When you just need to know stuff about stuff.
11. Internet Movie DataBase - Go read the trivia on your favorite movies, but if you want to be at all productive, maybe you shouldn't.
12. A Walk Through Durham Township - More photography, and even more examples of why I'm not a pro.
13. Magic Websites that I'm not going to tell you about, but are worth mentioning that I frequent them.
14. Pick Your Poisons - It's Vinnie from Less Than Jake's blog. I read it, not every day, but I check it regularly.
15. Steven - One of my oldest friends, Mr. Brooks has encouraged me to begin keeping up with the blogging and by checking his blog, I feel that I have to keep this one up.

So those are the sites I visit daily. Check em out. More posted as I find them.

A toast "To Hope"

{Setting: English pub early 1800's}

Friends let us raise our glasses and toast:

"TO HOPE"

Hope: An absurd disposition that our lives can be exactly what we want them to be. And as preposterous as hope is, it keeps us moving, living, loving, laughing, caring, crying, and breathing. It is what keeps our hearts beating. Hope is a fire that burns inside of us and may that fire always burn bright and hot like the sun; never to be extinguished, never to fade. So let us sing together a song of hope, with glasses raised, and hearts ablaze, we sing for hope.

I'll keep it inside I'll keep it alive As long as it doesn't fade

Here's to hope.

This is something I found on my computer that I wrote a while back. One of my few attempts at prose, which will probably wind up a song at some point. I find it poignant right now. As quite a few politicians are throwing around the term "hope" as often as "taxes" and "health care." Sit and ponder hope for a while. It's a fascinating word and as long as you have hope inside you, nothing can defeat you. Where that hope stems from is up to you, and can only be decided by you. Sometimes it's from spirituality, other times, it's simply from the love of those around you. So don't ever lose hope.

Much Love.

Lists bring order to this world we live in, but I rarely follow them

Things I'm stoked about in no particular order at all:

1. Summer and all that comes with it, even if I am working a 9-5.
2. Punchline's new record, seriously when did Punchline let you down? Answer: Never.
3. Forever The Sickest Kids new record
4. Growing my beard back
5. Being a surrogate uncle, it's kind of a wild feeling
6. Less Than Jake's new record
7. The movie "21"

8. The movie "The Bank Job"
9. Possibly getting the chance to drive across the country with one of my brothers

10. Opportunities

11. The movie The Counterfeiters Seriously going to rule, it's even foreign which gives me street cred both for knowing about it and thinking it's going to be cool
12. The New Jams (Kiss Your Ghost)

Edit: I had some pictures on here on, but I can't get them sized right and I've been messing with it for to long.

"It's been a while"

Well, I haven't posted in this in what appears to be two and a half years (and after this post it will probably be another two and a half years - I only searched it out so I could comment on Steven's blog, which I find highly entertaining by the way).

Apparently the last time I posted in it, I was falling in and out of love, in a way. My band which had helped me define myself so easily was breaking up and I had met a girl who made my heart beat a little faster.

Fast-forward. I play in a new band, which isn't defining me, but is just as important to me. That girl I mentioned, she broke my heart, and then I somehow managed to piece it back together. Since then I've met a lot of girls, some worth talking to, others not so much.

And much to my chagrin I somehow wound up in the "real world." Currently trying to fix that.

Since Steven's the only one who will read this, and that's a long shot, I'll say "What's up man? Hope all is well Alabama. Sorry I haven't responded to your email about Disney. I'll get on that."