T FOR TENNESSEE
So, i have been in Tennessee for the last week, Jun04-Jun11, visiting family that live there. My mom's sister's family to be exact. they are a family of extreme christians that hate the government and love living in the middle of nowhere(literally). well, the parents are like this, the kids are growing up having to put up with it. it was actually fun, tho. i went with my mom, my sister(faye), and my daughter(francesca). i have five cousins(in this family anway), one of them is a year older then me and he lives in georgia, so i didn't see him, but the other four i did. they are Amy, 19, Aaron, 18, Alex, 13, and Dorothy, 11. Amy and Aaron are about to go off to college in Rochester, NY, and escape the torture that is their home life, after literally forcing their parents to let them go to public school and graduating the best of their class and now have full scholarships to go to college. it's actually a pretty amazing story, their first day of public school was at the ages of 15 and 16. before that, their "homeschooling" was my aunt barely teaching them how to read, and that's it. seriously.
besides all that, i had a good time out in Savannah, TN, where i had no internet, no television(they have a tv but only watch movies on it), and my cell phone wasn't getting any signal whatsoever. faye and i clicked really well with amy and aaron, and we had a good time discussing books, movies, music, life, etc.
Some highlights:
On tuesday evening, we went to a Bluegrass Jam that my aunt saw in the local paper, and found this awesome old couple playing their guitars and singing old folk songs and hymnals. they were awesome. I took a couple of videos of them pickin and singin. i definitely did not expect to see this.
On Wednesday, we went to this state park that is where the Battle of Shiloh happened in the Civil War. it was neat seeing all the monuments and things. they had cannons set up right where they were set up back during the battle and it was pretty weird thinking that i was standing on the same ground that all these people died on so many years ago. we had this guy drive us around and tell us about the history of it and everything.
On thursday, faye, aaron, amy, and i went to Memphis for the day. it was cool but a little disappointing. i had heard that memphis is a dreary place and that is definitely true. there were some cool places to see: we went to a record store called Shangri La records, saw Sun Studios, a book/music store, a Piggly Wiggly, a really old cemetery behind the Piggly Wiggly, and ate at a very unique place called Harry's Detour(the food was DELICIOUS, definitely recomend it). the book/music store was run by this couple, the guy being John Lowe, who makes Cigar Box Guitars and does a one-man-band act under the name Johnny Lowebow. he was a pretty cool guy, he played some of his music for us and we talked about music for a while. the guitars that he makes have one bass string at the top and three guitar strings on the bottom and he mostly uses it like a slide guitar, as you can see in the video. i went there thinking of buying one of these guitars but after seeing them and hearing the price, i decided i could make on myself. i started it tonite, and will post pictures when it is done. at the record store, i bought Ciccone Youth, the Whitey Album and a Skin Yard(grunge band from back in the day) album on vinyl. also ate lunch at Captain D's! we used to have those all over the place in dallas/mck, when i was a kid, and it is sooo much better then Long John Silvers. it was a fun day, but overall i would say memphis kinda sucks.
friday was spent going to the different grocery stores and convenient stores around Savannah in search of CANNED SQUIRREL BRAINS, which my aunt says she saw when she first moved there, but our quest was a failure. still, saw some pretty weird places.
sat, we ate lunch at a park on the bank of the Tennesse river, which was nice. my cousins and faye walked along the catwalk underneath the bridge going over the river. francesca wanted to but i wouldnt let her, so i couldnt go either. faye took some pictures of some crazy graffiti, tho. i will eventually post them. after the lunch, we went to this flea market on the other side of the river that was completely and utterly whitetrash/hillbilly/freakycrazypeople. i bought this old photo album full of family photos from a creapy guy with a speech impediment that said something about us leaving our kids with him. i will post some pics from that album too. my mom got two kittens there, and i also got an old painting. saturday nite we were going to camp out in the woods behind their house but francesca got scared at the last minute. we did have fun telling stories around the campfire tho.
On Sunday, my cousins, faye and i decided to make a movie with my digital camera. its about people coming upon an old barn in the woods and there being a killer inside it that kills everyone. it was really fun to make, but by the last shots of the movie it is too dark to see anything. i will still try to edit it together tho, and definitely post it if i do so.
in between these days, we also watched movies: Pan's Labyrinth, The Good German, and Mulholland Drive. Pan's Labyrinth was good but really sad, and not what i was expecting. i was disappointed in the good german, and mulholland dr was, of course, confusing as heck and in the typical david lynch style. it was weird seeing naomi watts naked and having sex with a woman. we also played a lot of board games.
besides all that, i had a good time out in Savannah, TN, where i had no internet, no television(they have a tv but only watch movies on it), and my cell phone wasn't getting any signal whatsoever. faye and i clicked really well with amy and aaron, and we had a good time discussing books, movies, music, life, etc.
Some highlights:
On tuesday evening, we went to a Bluegrass Jam that my aunt saw in the local paper, and found this awesome old couple playing their guitars and singing old folk songs and hymnals. they were awesome. I took a couple of videos of them pickin and singin. i definitely did not expect to see this.
On Wednesday, we went to this state park that is where the Battle of Shiloh happened in the Civil War. it was neat seeing all the monuments and things. they had cannons set up right where they were set up back during the battle and it was pretty weird thinking that i was standing on the same ground that all these people died on so many years ago. we had this guy drive us around and tell us about the history of it and everything.
On thursday, faye, aaron, amy, and i went to Memphis for the day. it was cool but a little disappointing. i had heard that memphis is a dreary place and that is definitely true. there were some cool places to see: we went to a record store called Shangri La records, saw Sun Studios, a book/music store, a Piggly Wiggly, a really old cemetery behind the Piggly Wiggly, and ate at a very unique place called Harry's Detour(the food was DELICIOUS, definitely recomend it). the book/music store was run by this couple, the guy being John Lowe, who makes Cigar Box Guitars and does a one-man-band act under the name Johnny Lowebow. he was a pretty cool guy, he played some of his music for us and we talked about music for a while. the guitars that he makes have one bass string at the top and three guitar strings on the bottom and he mostly uses it like a slide guitar, as you can see in the video. i went there thinking of buying one of these guitars but after seeing them and hearing the price, i decided i could make on myself. i started it tonite, and will post pictures when it is done. at the record store, i bought Ciccone Youth, the Whitey Album and a Skin Yard(grunge band from back in the day) album on vinyl. also ate lunch at Captain D's! we used to have those all over the place in dallas/mck, when i was a kid, and it is sooo much better then Long John Silvers. it was a fun day, but overall i would say memphis kinda sucks.
friday was spent going to the different grocery stores and convenient stores around Savannah in search of CANNED SQUIRREL BRAINS, which my aunt says she saw when she first moved there, but our quest was a failure. still, saw some pretty weird places.
sat, we ate lunch at a park on the bank of the Tennesse river, which was nice. my cousins and faye walked along the catwalk underneath the bridge going over the river. francesca wanted to but i wouldnt let her, so i couldnt go either. faye took some pictures of some crazy graffiti, tho. i will eventually post them. after the lunch, we went to this flea market on the other side of the river that was completely and utterly whitetrash/hillbilly/freakycrazypeople. i bought this old photo album full of family photos from a creapy guy with a speech impediment that said something about us leaving our kids with him. i will post some pics from that album too. my mom got two kittens there, and i also got an old painting. saturday nite we were going to camp out in the woods behind their house but francesca got scared at the last minute. we did have fun telling stories around the campfire tho.
On Sunday, my cousins, faye and i decided to make a movie with my digital camera. its about people coming upon an old barn in the woods and there being a killer inside it that kills everyone. it was really fun to make, but by the last shots of the movie it is too dark to see anything. i will still try to edit it together tho, and definitely post it if i do so.
in between these days, we also watched movies: Pan's Labyrinth, The Good German, and Mulholland Drive. Pan's Labyrinth was good but really sad, and not what i was expecting. i was disappointed in the good german, and mulholland dr was, of course, confusing as heck and in the typical david lynch style. it was weird seeing naomi watts naked and having sex with a woman. we also played a lot of board games.