A Living Magazine - Day 76 - Jed, Haley, Nicodya and Junior Brown

Another good night. I packed up and took a new route back into down, walking up Seventh Avenue, then crossing into town, then downtown. I had no batteries for the camera, so I couldn't take any pictures in the morning. I'd done some audio recordings the night before, and had much to process and edit. I did much of that at Starbuck's, then headed out to walk north to Wal-Mart to buy batteries.

It was a long walk, and I took several wrong turns. Things look very different from the ground than they do on Google Satellite. I finally made it. I almost thought it wouldn't be worth it, but it was. Batteries at RiteAid were $9.95--for four AAs, but here at Wal-Mart they were $3.99 for eight! I bought them and was back in business, though the hour was late and I wanted to get back in town to see Junior Brown at 9:00 pm...

Wal-Mart

A colorful water tank on Wellesley Avenue.

I decided to take the bus back. I didn't have much money left, but for $1.50, I deemed it acceptable. I went to McDonald's to check the bus schedule. There was a bus at 7:00 pm right there, or 7:20 if I missed that one. I tried for the 7:00, but made it there at 7:05.

That's when I met Jed. Jed was hanging out around the bus stop. I asked him if I could take this bus (33) all the way in town. He told my I could take it to the Division Avenue stop and then transfer to another bus from there. He also told me we'd be waiting a little while since the last bus had just departed. 

While we talked, a couple of girls walked up. They asked Jed if the bus would get them back to their house by 7:55. He said it should. 

We all began to talk, and I told them about my project. They got excited by the idea. So, I gave them each a business card. The girls - who were on work release - said they weren't able to get online officially, but they snuck on sometimes. They were very nice and polite. They told me they were each other's "shadow" (a term for the work release buddy system), and that if one was late, both would get in trouble. They had monthly bus passes ($32).

The bus arrived and we all got on board. I asked for a transfer card. The girls got off right away and we said our goodbyes. They have four months left and then will be able to be on their own. They said they made some mistakes, but are ready to start anew. I believe they will do fine, and am looking forward to keeping in touch with them...   

Haley Lloyd and Nicodya Maddut. Sweet girls out on work release

and trying to get back to the house in time.

Jed gave me some tips on the best bus route to take.

I got off at Division and transferred to Bus 25 for my ride downtown. It was super fast, and a lot easier than my three hour, meandering walk to the northern part of the city. It was still light out when I arrived at the Convention Center bus stop...

I heard a band playing over at the Clocktower stage, I walked over and found The Olson Brothers Band...

The Olson Brothers Band

Click to Listen to...

THE OLSON BROTHERS BAND

National Songwriting Competition Winner

"Sunrise"

These guys rocked the place. They were young and full of energy. The band consisted of four players. The brothers played guitar and sang, while the bassist and drum sang back ups. One brother on the far left, a dark-haired wiry dude played a mean lead guitar and shared lead vocals with the other brother. The other brother was a talented singer, who mostly sang lead, but also played some rhythm guitar. Great band. They reminded me of what it felt like to still have your life in front of you and trying to climb the music ladder. The piece above won a National Songwriting Contest, and presumably moved them into the industry game. I will follow them.

There was still some time before Junior Brown, so I walked around the ice rink area - a large building with a circular array of wires forming a net above it - and took some shots of the carnival rides they stored there...

The rink will be removed when the entire park is revamped next year, and an amphitheater will be built around the Clocktower area to make it flatter.

I heard a bass drum pound out it enormous sonic girth through those 18 inch subwoofers (there were eight of them) at the Clocktower stage, and knew it was time to head back. I pulled out the Zoom recorder and recorded my walk back to the stage area, to capture the first two songs...

Click to Listen to...

JUNIOR BROWN

"Broke Down South of Dallas" and "Party Lights"

This Junior Brown guy could play any style of guitar, including Eddie Van Halen style hammer-ons. His wife - Tanya Rae Brown - played rhythm guitar and sang a couple songs, also sang back up vocals. I caught the rest of the show and wanted to post all the songs here, but editing got overwhelmingly onerous, and they will have to wait. But here are three more tunes on two files...

Click to Listen to...

JUNIOR BROWN

"Mouth To Mouth" and "My Wife Thinks You're Dead"

"Hang Up And Drive"

By the end of the night, I'd had such a great time. I hadn't been to a festival or anything like this in years. It really satisfied my musical sweet tooth. I also love seeing all the equipment they are using now for live sound. The mixing boards are all digital and LED lights have changed everything for stage lighting.

The rain had held off, but now it was starting in earnest. I had a good three miles to walk back to the sleeping place. I'd hoped to sleep under one of the tall bridges, but wasn't sure it would work...

Views of the booths at night.

After about 45 minutes I was back along the creek and under the bridge. At first it looked like it was going to work out well, but the wind picked up and blew the rain sideways. I picked up my stuff and moved it to a more sheltered place and put up my tarp tent. It was the first time I'd slept in it as a tent since way back on the first journey, along Route 89A, just north of Sedona, Arizona.

It held out for a couple of hours, but my luck would not last.