I Hate This Blog

What’s In David’s iPod?
A Little Less Conversation
Elvis Presley (JXL Radio Edit Remix)
Elvis 30 #1 Hits
(Yes. Cheese. I know.)

Road Trips

Toni and I love road trips. It is a little stunning to me to learn that the loss of Flight 800 was eight years ago today. On July 18, 1996 we took off for Maine via Canada – with stops in Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and onto Friendship, MA – and our first meal on the road was at this great bar and grill in western New York, by the Canadian border. The crash was all over the t.v.

This time four years ago we were in the middle of our first (and to date, only) drive into the South. Not the Deep South, but we drove down to Memphis, east to the Outer Banks, and back home via Monticello and Athens. It was a big, three-week trip. It was supposed to be our last great voyage before our first child was born. But things rarely turn out how you plan.

Memphis was a real shock. I never understood Elvis until I got to Graceland. No, I’m being serious. You would think someone who never really enjoyed old-time rock and roll would find the place overdone and tacky, some small-time hick’s idea of opulence. And I guess some of that racist b.s. still clanks around in the back of my head or I wouldn’t have been able to write that. But I found the place charming, innocent; a boy’s idea of what a mansion should be like. Folks mock the Jungle Room, but I think it’s hysterical – as in, I get the joke, Elvis, you’re all right. I wish I had a waterfall in my living room.

This Fringe is going to be different. One thing I am not looking forward to is all the time I will be spending away from Toni, that will be a first. She is going to stay home with Zelda, and fly in for the weekend. I will be entirely on my own in New York, which – apart from one weekend in October, 2001 – is something new. At least by staying at Erin’s I will be familiar with the neighborhood, it’s close to where Harris lives. I will know where to get coffee … well, hell, you can get coffee anywhere. But I won’t feel entirely like a rube.

I am hoping I will be so busy I won’t notice their absence. But even spending a few hours away from Zelda when directing AM REV drove me a little despondent. Hopefully it will keep me on the street, handing out flyers, talking up the show.