The Tell A Phone Boogie ....

Hello Folks,


I left Elk City, OK at dawn and arrived in Memphis as part of a convoy ... let me tell you ... it just keeps getting more strange ... the Doors predicted that .... 'faces come out of the rain ... when you're strange ....'  

The drive across the top of the Texas panhandle and on through Oklahoma and Arkansas is remarkable in the sense that they wear their hearts not only on their bumper stickers, like the rest of the country, but also on their billboards .... which are a hell of a lot easier to read at 80 mph ....

There seemed to be three main themes ... Jesus is lord .... and this was displayed not in a gentle comforting way but in gigantic letters and with reference to a bible book and verse ... if you don't agree with the statement and/or the reference, bad things will happen ... that old testament 'eye for an eye' thing ... this kind of Jesus and/or his followers you do not want to meet .... their ancestors would have loved the inquisition ....

The next most popular billboard display was for liquor/beer, gentleman's clubs ... followed closely by guns/ammo .... I concluded that this was a direct follow-on from the 'Jesus is lord' billboards .... liquor/beer was the sacrament, gentleman's club was the church (after all women are simply non-thinking objects of desire), and guns and ammo are required to enforce the commandments of this philosophy ... besides being a second amendment instrument of choice ... 


The third most popular billboard was highlighting local politicians; those that should not be 'favored with voter's attention' .... and it was quite clear that, if a supporter of 'Jesus is lord', had worked up enough fervor at the 'church', had enough liquor (ingested), had their guns with them and loaded ... how they would handle these 'politicians' that should be removed from office .... fascinating ....


I was passing close to Bentonville, AR when the odometer rolled over to this ....

Wow ... the home of WalMart ... who knew .... America's shopping center .... it was Washboard Hank, who declared to the audience at The Rusty Snail on the 31 December 2007 that, 'only an asshole would shop at WalMart' ... well, if that's true .... and I can only rely on Hank for this .... this has serious ramifications for most North Americans .... Hank has always been an excellent judge of anatomy ...

About halfway across AR, the skies darkened and the rains came ... I was following a ... yes ... a WalMart 18 wheeler .... I pulled out to pass ... and I couldn't .... there was another WalMart 18 wheeler in front of me and now one behind ... I pulled back in back behind the one I wished to pas and there I was embedded in a convoy of WalMart 18 wheelers ....


At first I was ticked off .... tried to find an opening to pass .... pulled out to the shoulder a bit ... until we got to a large sweeping curve on the interstate ... now I could a great distance in front and behind me on opposite sides .... and as far as the eye could see it was 2 lanes of ..... you guessed it .... WalMart trucks ... I was embedded and well hidden from view in amongst this melamine convoy .... and then I realized they were not a threat but were actually shielding me from 'the watcher' .... and this continued to the Arkansas/Tennessee border ... at which time they peeled off and I proceeded across the bridge and quickly to the Gen-X Inn ... unobserved as far as I could tell ....

I checked into ...are you ready for it .... Room 206 ... yeah, it had to be .... the message light was flashing on the phone .... no one knew I would be in that room so I listened to it knowing it would be for the previous occupant .... it wasn't .... some sort of computer generated or masked voice simply said .... 'eat, drink, boogie, repeat ....' WTF ....'eat, drink, boogie, repeat' .... another riddle it seems ....


But again, Google is your friend, so a quick search revealed that this phrase among other things is the catch phrase of the Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale Street .... so I grabbed the trolley and it was off into the sunset to the Rum Boogie Cafe ....

The Chris Dodd band was playing .... I ordered the Gator Gumbo and a Blue Moon ... and settle in waiting for who knows what to happen ...it didn't take long ...it seems it never does .... Chris was playing a Hendrix tune ... doing a great job .... Little Wing .... all of a sudden the bar wall phone rings ... 

only one problem ... the phone is a prop ... one of those crank jobs with an ear-piece and a horn you speak into permanently mounted on the front ... the band stops playing ... the crowd doesn't know what's going on ... the maitre' d eyeballs are three times their size ... 

I walk to the phone and answer it .... that computer generated voice says, ...'Bryants breakfast' ... what the hell`s that ... orange juice!!!! ...another mystery without any clues ... 

I did figure it out ... today will be the most interesting of all .... if I can survive the cycle ... eat, drink, boogie ...repeat ....

To quote from verse 1566 of the Krome Koan,


'I bet Jesus would have used his turn signal ....'

I love the nightlife ....


Forever Man


Check this out ....