Road Trip

So, on Saturday, I took off on a road trip.

It was not exactly an impromptu road trip, the kind I actually prefer, but it was a bit last-minute, from the standpoint that I had only decided to go on this trip (to Cincinnati, Ohio, for an Over the Rhine concert at the Taft Theatre) about 3 weeks ago. And given that the weather can be entirely flaky (heh) this time of year, there was no guarantee that I would be able to go.

But on Saturday, the weather was fine and my spirits were high, so I pulled out of town around 9 a.m. For what, according to my Yahoo! driving directions, was supposed to be a 5-hour drive (300 miles). From here to there, I travel mostly on interstates 64 and 71; I had not been on an extended stretch of I-64 for two-and-a-half years, so I had almost forgotten about the farmland and hills of Indiana and Kentucky.

Not much traffic, either, so I was flying. I do not wish to incriminate myself on the World Wide Web, lest this online journal fall into the hands of the authorities; however, let us just say that I was moving along at quite a nice clip when, out of the corner of my right eye, I saw flashing red and blue lights!

In the words of Bridget Jones: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

Yes, indeedy, one of Indiana’s finest was traveling in the right lane and had nailed me, from behind! I am so caught for speeding, I told myself, and then I witnessed something that I can only perceive as a modern-day miracle: The police officer turned off the car’s flashing lights! Truthfully, they were on only a few seconds (less time than it took to write the first part of this paragraph, actually); apparently, the officer had flashed them as sort of a warning ... telling me to “slow down, or else!”

Which I did.

For a while, at least.

: )

I also needed a little divine guidance to help me actually find Cincinnati.

Turns out that when you are instructed to take the Fifth Street exit off I-75 (I-71 had turned into 71 a while back up the road), you must not take the first Fifth Street exit you see ... which I did, only to find myself in Covington, which is located in Kentucky. Took me 2 full passes down a mile or so stretch of Fifth Street to realize, hmmm, maybe that’s Cincinnati over there ... and yes, indeed, it was.

Go figure.

: )

I should’ve been listening to Over the Rhine on my way to the concert, but instead I listened to these 3 CDs, in this order: The Best of Van Morrison, U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and the soundtrack from Alfie.

Of the 3, I like Van Morrison’s album the most, U2’s the least. Not that I disliked the new U2 ... more like, nothing on the CD grabbed me at first listen. I mean, I have heard that “Vertigo” song ad nauseum and have really never cared for it; similarly, I had heard “Beautiful Day” many times before buying All That You Can’t Leave Behind and already adored that song, and pretty much enjoyed the entire album ... with the possible exception of “Elevation,” which I could do without, honestly.

I discovered that I loved about two-thirds of the Van Morrison album. They used to play some of his songs, maybe it was one of his albums, or perhaps a Van mix-tape, at the Uptowner, so I will forever associate “Domino” with being there. And 2 of Patti’s kids have selected songs on the album as theirs (“Warm Love” and the “Da-da-da-da DA da-da-da-da-da” song), so I love those, by association ... especially this line, from “Warm Love”:

I dig it when you have a smile on your face.

: )

As for the Alfie soundtrack: You really cannot go wrong with a collaboration between Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart. Plus, I really, really enjoyed the movie Alfie. Which I am not sure that anyone else on earth has seen, let alone liked, but ... I don’t know. Something about that film just resonates with me. Even though I am certainly not male, and, like most of the people on the planet, my looks do not even come close to comparing to those of Jude Law, and I have never, ever in my life been a womanizer, and I seriously doubt I could ever pull off the quality of “charming” ... though there are those who have told me that I can be charming, when I really, really try ... and, for the record, I’m not sure I ever try, let alone really, really!

Still, I can relate to Alfie. Hence, I enjoyed the film. In fact, I want to see it again ... along with several others (Closer and Finding Neverland and maybe even Kinsey) that, for reasons unknown to me, are not playing anywhere close to here any time soon (as my best pal put it, “Looks like finding Finding Neverland is going to be quite a task!”).

: )

I went to dinner with 50 people I had never officially met before.

Ah, but we were not strangers: We had met online, in The Orchard. “A place where people talk about our music ... and lots of other things,” according to Linford Detweiler, a member of Over the Rhine.

My friend Tee-Hee was a little skeptical of such a venture, but I had absolutely no qualms about meeting these people. I know, I know, you never know who is “out there,” but ... it was all good.

: )

Oddly enough, I did not take 1 picture while I was there.

I took 2 cameras, though, and actually thought, right up until I left my hotel to walk over to this restaurant called Arnol’ds (yes, apparently that is where the apostrophe was, on the sign!), that I would take at least 1 of them with me, but ... then, I just didn’t. Mainly because, when I have my camera with me, then I sort of obsess over it ... and I didn’t know how strict or not-strict the theater would be regarding photographic devices (apparently: not-strict, at all) ... and ultimately, I guess I just did not want to mess with it.

I did not want to be a photographer.

What I ended up being was more or less an observer. Not my usual role; I am usually the one in the midst of the action, preferably the middle/center of attention (sometimes, anyway!), but on this night, I was content to sort of take as much of it in as I possibly could.

Anyway, I was in Cincinnati for a shorter time than I would have liked, mostly because I was semi-dreading the return drive. Might be a fun city to explore, someday ...

: )