Flash forward for a moment to my time back home in southern California with my family and friends. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. My journey across the country was full of so much discovery and so many unbelievable, special, totally unexpected moments that I didn't want to step out of living all of it in the real world to log into the virtual world. Here are some new vintage pieces I found on the road that I just listed in the shop. The photos are taken in my parents' courtyard on the coast of southern California.
I last left you in Chicago, which means the next stop on my very long road home is Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville wasn't initially somewhere I had on my agenda, but I felt a weird obligation to stop by for a night because I knew I wanted to stop in Memphis and Nashville required merely a minor detour. What's a couple hundred miles when you're driving thousands? I can't even express how important Nashville proved to be on my journey. For a few hours of the evening, I completely forgot why I spontaneously fled Denver and then New York City to aimlessly drive around the country.
The mainstream scene in Nashville is predictably disappointing, but the city does an incredible job at keeping the historical honky tonks booked with new, up-and-coming artists who are influenced by the original greats. I walked into a bar called Layla's Bluegrass Inn and immediately noticed the lead singer of the band. Apparently, he noticed me as well because he had one of the other guys in his band ask me for him, on the microphone, in front of the packed bar, not to leave because he thinks I'm "kinda cute"...
Of course I stayed! Getting to know the locals was a top priority for me everywhere I stopped, and it didn't hurt that this local was also quite aesthetically appealing. I learned that Nick has also been in blues and punk bands, idolizes Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, and drinks whiskey like water (but somehow puts on a great show). He has tattoos and wears cowboy boots, and talks in a southern accent so definitive of Tennessee that you'd think it was part of his act... or a prop to pick up California girls looking to spend a night with a typical yet alternative and very rough around the edges yet gentlemanly country music star.
I can't say this cowboy captured my heart, but he managed to hold my interest for a few hours and offered a mirage of light in a very dark place. He also gave me a CD with his phone number in it and extended the invitation to stay with him whenever I'm in Nashville...
Does anyone know what Nashville is like in the spring?
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