I woke up the next morning to the sound of someone pounding away at my door and windows. I was sick with a cold, miserable with a hangover, and in no mood to get out of bed. I did, I put on a shirt, and answered the door. It was Morgan. What the fuck was he doing banging on my door at 8 in the morning? Some people use Sundays to sleep away hangovers. That's why they're there. He told me to call my brother. Apparently, he had been trying to call me all morning. The battery on my phone sucks more dick than a Jersey whore. When I stumbled in, I didn't bother to turn it back on. I just plugged it up and passed out. I turned it back on and once again, it was eerily similar. Missed calls and voicemails from my mom and sister. Text messages from my brother and sister. I knew what had happened. This is exactly how it played out when my Paw Paw died. I called my mom and she told me that Maw Maw died that morning (Sunday). I kept calm on the phone. As soon as I told Momma bye, I threw my phone across my bedroom, punched my wall, shouted the word fuck, and proceeded to sit on my bed and cry. Morgan sat there with me until I calmed down.
No one would admit it, but I think everyone in my family knew that this might happen this year. I mean, Maw Maw had lung cancer since I was in high school. I've spent the past couple of summers taking her to and from doctor's appointments and this summer, to chemo treatments. I guess about a month and a half or so ago, two of my aunts put her into a nursing home. She was miserable there. I could tell the last time that I was home and went to see her. I knew she hated it.
At the funeral Tuesday, I didn't cry. That may seem bad, but in all honesty, it was like a burden had been lifted. My Maw Maw wasn't sick anymore. No more struggling to breathe. No more being laid up in a nursing home. No more shuffling back and forth to the doctor. She's okay now, and I'm okay with that. I saw my dad wipe away a couple of tears. That's always hard to watch.
The last couple of times that I've been home, I've found a new favorite way to go. Hit the Oneonta exit on 59 North and go north on Highway 231 until you turn onto Gallant Road. In the spring and this time of year, it's so nice. Roll the windows down, put on a good driving album, and enjoy the northeast Alabama scenery. It's just hills rolling and trees alongside the road. The reds and the golds are amazing to look at.
Last night was the second edition of the Revival Tour in Birmingham. I bought my ticket last week. I got to the venue two hours before the show started. I ate dinner there though, so it's not like I was being a creeper. They all came out and played together to start it off, like last year. Audra May did her thing next. I had never heard her before last night, but I am definitely a fan now. She has a beautiful voice and some very excellent songs. The Zydepunks were something else. Two accordion players, a drummer that only used a snare, kick, crash, and brushes, and songs sung in French. If you couldn't guess by the name, they were a mix of zydeco and punk. Good stuff. Jim Ward played next. I was really stoked for this one. It's THAT Jim Ward, from At the Drive-In and Sparta. He played a Sparta song, but mostly did the stuff from his solo release and from the album with his other band, Sleepercar. Frank Turner played after Jim. I just started listening to Frank Turner in September or October and was instantly hooked. I wrote about him on a previous post. Jon Snodgrass and Chad Price came out next and played some Drag the River songs, including my two favorites, Me and Joe Drove Out to California and Medicine. I have them on my iPod doing a Misfits song. Jon kept asking what the crowd wanted to hear. I kept shouting Astro Zombies. He said they didn't know Astro Zombies. I insisted that they did (I was kinda drunk). I look on my iPod when I left and it wasn't Astro Zombies. It was Hybrid Moments. I felt like a dick, but they were cool about it. Chuck played next and almost melted my face off. Then the rest of them came out and they played a few more together. It was really cool when they did Will the Circle be Unbroken and Revival Road.
After the show, I offered to buy Chuck, Frank, Jim, and Jon a drink. Frank and Jim took me up on it and we did Jager bombs together. Gross, I know, but it was cool. I sat and talked to Jim for a bit. He was a really nice guy. Jon Snodgrass never took me up on the drink offer. I offered to buy Chuck a shot (though I think he may have been the reason that the Bottletree ran out of Jameson last night) but instead, he insisted on buying me one as a way of saying thanks for coming to the show and being supportive. We sat and talked for a bit and much like I said about Tim Barry last year, Chuck Ragan is an amazingly nice and awesome person. I told him about Megan being disappointed that she couldn't be there this year (attending a show in Alabama when you live in Massachusetts now poses a slight problem) and he called and talked to her. I'm pretty sure I bugged the shit out of Chad Price, but he was cool and sat there and talked for a bit. I gave my regards and well wishes to all of them before I left, and some girl gave me her phone number and said that we should hang out. For real, I didn't ask for it. I didn't even intend on asking for it.
As I was leaving from eating at Al's (because there's not better place to go when you're drunk), a homeless man outside told me that he was hungry. It broke my heart when he started what he was saying with "I know I'm a black man, but..." I told him that I didn't care what color he was. He was human and he was hungry and that was all that mattered. I didn't have a huge amount of food left, but I had enough to get someone by for a while, and I gave it to him. Say what you want about the homeless. I don't know how they ended up in their situation, but they're still human. People scoff and treat them like they're less than human, but they're people with feelings like all of us. Churches offer to help them, but when a man is hungry the last thing on his mind is someone praying for him. He wants to eat.
Whoa! The view is awfully high up here from my soapbox. I'll move away from the subject of the homeless now. Actually, I think I'm gonna go to bed. I'm tired and I have an awful headache and I have to work at 11:15. I couldn't find a video for the song that I'm leaving you with, mainly because when you search The Weight on Youtube, you don't get the kickass alt-country band from Brooklyn by way of Athens, Georgia at all. You just get The Band and a bunch of people covering The Band. Oh well.
Until next time, goodnight all.
 | Joseph Plunket & The Weight - Evergreen .mp3 |  |
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 | Found at bee mp3 search engine |  |
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