blowing down the road
Road trip.
What does that mean to you?
For me, time was when it meant good music, bad food, lots of laughs, lots of car trouble, escape from responsibility, and sex under the stars. Some of that still applies. With the Taylor Hicks tour taking a swamp crawl through the gulf states this week, it seems a larger than normal number of fans are doing the jam fan thing and hitting the road in hot (and humid) pursuit. At least that’s what the board rumblings are indicating. So what is it about the combination of music and the open road that makes a road trip so appealing?
Artists that are willing to alter things from show to show take a risk, but it is a risk that turns a paying customer, into a participant in a mythical musical moment.-Shawn Donahue, Rock and Roll Road Trip, Glide Magazine
So, Donahue has his criteria for what makes a good music road trip. Following a band that changes things from night to night is given. Other than that, here are my minimal requirements for a worthwhile road trip:
1) When it comes to traveling companions, enjoyment factor must outweigh annoyance: traveling with other people can be a blast, but it can also be hell on wheels, so make sure it’s worth it or just blow down the road on your own (which is actually the ultimate road trip).
2) Be sure and hear the local scene. Yeah, you’re on the road to hear your main prey, but all those towns have other music you’ll never otherwise hear. Someone once told me that, of course, the thing to do after a concert is hang around to catch autographs and chats with the act, as if the only other option is to go home and tuck in. Bullshit. Here’s your chance to find the small and funky places and open your mind, or at least drink some local brews. Find out what’s going on and go hear it.
3) Eat local. Even if it’s a chain, go for a local chain. In fact, make sure you do a local chain. Every place has it’s good food, so make sure you also include some local bad food. I’m thinking maybe Waffle House.
4) Find the whackiness around you. You may have started the trip to hear your band, but what you’re going to remember is when you rolled off the road, figuratively or otherwise.
But that’s just me. Any good road trip stories?
Not really the same thing, but perhaps of interest:
a different kind of road trip
categories: music
tags: road trips
posted by what at 04:00 am
My road trip this year was 6 weeks and 9,221 miles across this nation. Went to the Great Lake States, the North East, East Coast down to the Southern states then back to California.
I was filming a documentary.
Hitching from Ellenville to New Paltz as teenagers with a fellow counselor to catch the Crosby Stills Nash & Young concert. We subsisted on Friehoffer Choc. Chip cookies, Gerber bannana pudding, and Tiger Lillies off the side of the road. Very Sweet indeed and completely insane.
So, morewines, what kind of documentary?
“So, morewines, what kind of documentary?
mamaforpeace said this on July 31st, 2007 at 10:34 am”
It’s an environmental issue something that has not been
addressed. Can’t go into it anymore about it until it’s in the
can.
I just got back from a small roadtrip to see some old friends and relatives up north to South Dakota… My friends were drunk and my relatives were old. We had a blast, jammed to some music, danced, and ate three times our body weight. The road itself was long and painful… with my car not driving straight and veering to the left. My mom constantly having to go the bathroom, or wanting to stop and stretch. And my sister singing Highschool Musical Lyrics while I tried to drown them out with some Allman Bros. - I havent had a good old road trip like that in ages. It was nice to see the open road yet again,
This is a road trip I’ve not yet had, but want to before I die: drive to the bottom of South America. I’ll want to do it with an about to die car so I can ditch it there, because I’m thinking I won’t want to drive back.
I think you brought this subject up just to tease me (it is all about me isn’t it?) I’m so friggin stuck in a rut…it’s killing me. Same job for 17 years, (same husband for 28), no vacation time coming to speak of…and a road trip sounds like a dream come true.
I’ve never been on a road trip for the sake of following music. But my husband and I used to frequently just pick a direction and head out for the weekend, with no particular destination in mind. And we would inevitably end up listening to some local band in some bar in some town. Does that qualify?
LimLoree, I would definitely say that qualifies. After all, isn’t it all about the journey? Never did the music type road trip either, but try to make all trips an adventure of sorts. Just did 1500 miles in four days, yes, we are nuts, but it was a necessary trip and our dogs were with us, so flying was out of the question. There was lots of music, good conversation, and the kind of laughter that happens when everyone is a bit tired! I like your idea of just heading out with no destination in mind.
Anxious to get on to the ‘road’ aspect. These $7 airport beers are a bitch.
Hey what/i>, that link at the bottom, to Josh Baron’s “recap” was really fascinating.. had to skim it cause I’ve got tons of work to do before starting school next week, but just wanted to comment on it and say thanks for posting it..
cool Taylor connection.. I’d never seen it before.. I love when you dig up goodies like this for us
One of my most interesting road trips years ago started in Mexico City with a friend, and we drove her car all the way north to the U.S. border, then down all of Baja , where we finally ended up near La Paz, and bribed a truck driver from Mazatlan to let us smuggle her car in his empty tractor trailer, which then went onto a huge overnight ferry to the mainland, where we completed the full circle back to el D.F., all in just one week’s time- ay carumba!
Had great stopovers, like in the town of Tequila to get a couple of gallon jugs filled, etc…
All along the way listened to some incredible Mexicano radio stations and hundreds of tapes of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan and other Central American musicians of all types - woooo!
So many memorable road/train trips in my life. I love being on the road, especially without a definite itinerary, making decisions as you go along (you can do that even on the train if you have a eurail pass). My first road trip was with the man who eventually became my husband. We hitchhicked from Paris to Athens. We were in a pretty desolate part of what used to be Yugoslavia. No luck with the “thumb”, so we decide to walk to the nearest town to get a train, and get there just in time to see the back of the train leaving the station. We realise we have to spend the night on the grass of the town square. As night falls, some young men join us. None of them speak French or English, but we manage to “talk” all night, find a way to communicate somehow. Like when a prostitute walks by, having a rather violent argument with some older guy. They come to her rescue, and explain to us how he is a bad man who abuses prostitutes. Part of what has now become this little group, is a young boy about 13. He doesn’t talk much, but he borrows my husband’s beloved guitar, and plays it all night, getting incredible sounds out of it. When morning comes, we all walk to the train station. The boy, who I think has a bit of a crush on me, takes off a golden chain with a cross, and puts it around my neck. I find out his name is Nicolas (I named my son after him). Meanwhile, the other guys are all gathered in a corner. Now, these people are poor, really poor! But they get their few “pennies” together to buy us a small breakfast from a cart! When the civil war broke out in Yugoslavia, it had a face for us. I often thought of little Nicolas, who was a man by then. Did he manage to retain his humanity? Did he manage to survive?