It's these late nights and this freeway flying, always makes me sad.
Shoot, I just looked that up, and I've been hearing it wrong this whole time. It's "always makes me sing", but that just doesn't work for me. Ah, well, I'll leave it in the way I hear it.
I just have to say that I really love Tom Waits. Rachael and I were talking about what makes a song really great. We didn't come up with the answer, of course, but one element is a building, a progression. Kris Delmhurst does it vocally, building from a gentle breeze to a storm, just with her voice. Tom Waits does it with his lyrics, either in the course of telling a story, or just by changing a single word in a chorus. He's... well, he's just freaking cool.
If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave too. When they leave they're so hard to find.
and she's lucky to be alive
the doctor whispered to the nurse
she only lost a 1/2 pint of blood
$29.00 and an alligator purse
And the radio's gone off the air
Gives you time to think
And you hear the rumble
As you fumble for a cigarette
And blazing through this midnight jungle
Remember someone that you met
And one more block; the engine talks
Whispers 'home at last'
It whispers 'home at last'
Whispers 'home at last'
It whispers 'home at last'
Whispers 'home at last'
Home at last. Just two more weeks.
That last line was me, not him, in case you were confused.
So. What have I been up to. I was freeway flyin' through Indiana and Illinois, and then back again, and never really saw a thing. I flew into Michigan, and Flint slowed me down a bit.
It just so happened that I was there for what was supposed to be the release of Fahrenheit 911. There was no sign of it in town, so really it just turned out to be a nice bit of coincidence in my head, with nothing to show in reality. I wandered around town for a few hours, and saw... just what I expected, I expect. For the first hour, I found myself in not so happy parts of town, where the only things flourishing were titty bars and potholes. I've never seen so many empty buildings, outside of the fifties ghost town of St. Marie in Montana.
I called all the theaters, searched for the movie, found nothing, and was ready to leave, but I felt a bit guilty, like a tourist to San Francisco who never finds his way out of the Tenderloin. So I searched a bit harder, crossed a river, and found the part of town that still had some money. I didn't go to a show, or search for any art museums or anything, but I felt that I had given the city a fair shake, so I headed back to the freeway.
Nothing else in Michigan pulled me. I passed through Irish Hills on a race day, or else I may have lingered at the abandoned amusement parks. Those got me thinking, actually. How cool would it be if we lived in a less litigious society, and someone could open up "Abandoned Theme Park!", charge a few bucks to let you crawl over crumbling plaster mountains, and see empty rides swaying in the breeze? I really think it could work; there's several generation now that were raised on Scooby Doo, and who doesn't want to search for a ghost through cobwebby corridors? Maybe in Nevada.
Onwards to Wisconsin! By this point, the freeway flying is making me physically ill, so I slow it down a bit, spend one afternoon in Barnes and Noble, the other in a movie theater. I would like to formally acknowledge the two things I couldn't have done this trip without: free internet access in libraries, and big chain bookstores that let you sit and relax for an entire day without buying a darn thing. Bless those corporate retail associates that really don't care one way or another.
Yesterday I stopped by Art Park near Baraboo, to see the Forevertron. It was beautiful. All the pictures and stories just don't do justice to how this man has made rusty junk into beauty. They all focus on the strangeness (and it was strange), and ignore how gorgeous everything was.
Today was saved for House on the Rock. All day. And I needed it. It's fabulousness can not be described. Actually, it really can't, since I've just been kicked off my computer. See the link, read American Gods, and just end up going yourself. It's worth whatever distance you have to come.
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