Category: Life

If you have a Visa card, and you have a wreck that requires a rental vehicle while your car gets fixed, it’s very likely that you’re eligible for Visa to pay for your rental car insurance, and maybe even your insurance company’s deductible for the repair of your car.

For example, my insurance company is covering my rental car rate, but not the extra insurance on the rental vehicle. Because I’m paranoid, I opt for the $16 a day insurance on the damnable GMC truck I’ve been driving for two weeks. Visa could have paid for that, and maybe even my $500 deductible…if only I had notified Visa within 45 days of my accident.

Don’t be a doofus! If you have a wreck, ask Visa what they can do to help! Chances are the answer is, a heckuva lot. God only knows what I’m paying Enterprise Rent a Car for the damnable GMC that I will hopefully turn in today.

My favorite part of Christmas this year was making wrapping paper out of old Entertainment Weekly photo issues.

I think this means I’ve officially reached adulthood, because I enjoyed giving more than receiving, and because I’ve reached a point where there is nothing that I want that I can’t buy myself.

The last few weeks’ highlights:

Went to Stuttgart after Thanksgiving with Superflux to play the big annual Duck Gumbo. It’s like a large rural frat party/Madis Gras. In its own way, it is awesome. Pictures from last year will help give you an idea. I’ve only just now remembered that I briefly met Anthony, the proprietor of Little Rock Blog. He’ll give you the low down better than I. There’s even a picture of me – I’ve finally made it in there!

Last Thursday Bryan and I went to Nashville for a gig. We thought we might stay a few days but his Nashville-connected buddy couldn’t make it. We stayed with the buddy’s parents, who happen to be the President and First Lady[1] of Belmont University. Now, the idea behind our gig was that we would play the student union cafe joint, and the post-basketball crowd would filter in to pack the place. Turns out we had no sound guy so when the game was over we weren’t playing. As a result we started 30 minutes late and played to a crowd of maybe 20, three of whom were paying attention and specifically there to see us (the aforementioned parents plus my friend, the gloriously talented Shelley Raymond, whose CD you all need to buy right now from CafePress). Getting to finally meet Shelley was really the main reason I wanted to take the gig, which involved using up two vacation days from work.

The next day we stopped by yet another Tower Records Going Out of Business sale. This time I only spent $191. Then we headed west, stopping in Memphis so that I could introduce Bryan to the joys of Midtown, especially Shangri-La Records and Xanadu Music and Books. We also checked out the formerly legendary, now near-dead Strings and Things[2], which went bankrupt early this year, and has since re-opened under different management. This time, though, they have no major contracts, so no Gibsons, Fenders, Marshalls, etc. You can thank Guitar Center’s arrival for that. I had expected Strings and Things to withstand the Internet and Guitar Center onslaught, but they made some unfortunate decisions to expand right when GC arrived. So they’re pretty much toast. Sadness.

All last weekend was spent working on a mix DVD that I’m giving out to some people for Christmas. I also picked up a few dozen classical LP’s at the storefront of the former Anthro-pop (more dead music store booty). Rod left them outside with a FREE RECORDS sign, so I snatched up a hefty sum. I spent most of yesterday listening to nothing but Sviatoslav Richter while converting VHS videos to MPEG, and reading The Real Frank Zappa Book. I never left the house. Good times.

1.) If they don’t call them that, why don’t they? They should.

2.) Web address expired.

I had a blowout on I-40 this morning on my way to Harrison. I did about three 360-degree spins before running off the right side of the road, scraping an Adopt-a-Highway sign along the way. I lost some chunks from my bumper and dented the backside of my car, but other than that everything appears to be OK. I got a tow, changed my tire, duct taped the bumper back together and headed on to Harrison. I’m very thankful today: I hit no one, I’m fine, the car is essentially fine, and there were a lot worse places it could have happened. I’m also thankful that this is the closest thing to an actual car wreck that I’ve ever had to experience in all my years. It’s also the closest I’ve ever come to serious injury or death. That’s all I can really say at this point; I’m still kind of freaked out about it.

UPDATE: As I bought new tires today, I noticed that the offending wheel was still fully inflated. I didn’t have a blowout, I had a full-on tire separation. Stay away from Bridgestones, people! These weren’t the recall tires, but I’ll be damned if I’m ever buying Bridgestones again. I went back to get the stripped tire later that day but it was already on the bottom of a big pile, so I can’t keep it for evidence or to complain to Sears Auto Center. Damn.

I should also mention how great people are. I had several people stop to offer assistance following the accident. One lady even gave me a hug. And I met a cool bass player guy with a huge Yamaha 6 string in his van, as well as a 5 string he bought from the store where I used to teach. Arkansas is a small town.

Back on the downside, my brother just called to say that Mrs. Benetka, the nice lady that lived across the street from where I grew up, died on Tuesday. She was my childhood cookie enabler, and she will be missed. Go tell someone you love them right now. Life is fast and short.

So I bought a VHS to USB converter box recently. I’ve been dubbing all kinds of stuff to MPEG. I sliced up the footage several of us took from the last day of class, 1992, and uploaded it to youtube (sans Wade Wilmoth’s commentary about Aria Newton’s locker).

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

As I watch these videos I’m reminded of what a great group of kids we had. The seniors you see in video 6 around the table were a great group to look up to; I was a sophomore that year, and I couldn’t have asked for better role models. In a town like Harrison, it’s hard to find a large group of kids dedicated to being unique and creative, but the class of 1992 had more than its fair share. As did the classes of ’93 and ’94.

We’re having some problems with the spam protection image on the comments, so I thought I would leave comments open to the public, but then it wasn’t long before spam started coming in, so I’ve set the comments to require registration.

CORRECTION: Heath installed a new anti-spam device. So comments are now open to the public, and hopefully the spam comments will be killed or re-routed for moderation.

In the last two weeks, I’ve been to three going-out-of-business sales. The first was Tower Records in New York, where I picked up the first 16 or so CDs listed here. Then, during my day-long layover in St. Louis, McMurray Music in St. Louis, where I bought an A/B switch and various other accessories (all the guitars were gone by that point). Side note: McMurray is affiliated with Brook Mays Music, whose store closing sale in Dallas I also recently attended. And last weekend I went to Millsap Music to find that they’ll be closed by Christmas. And, add to the list Sam Goody in McCain Mall, which I’m led to understand disappeared without a trace recently. No big clearance sale to say goodbye.

Whether it’s CDs or instruments, music stores across the nation’s larger cities are sighing their last. With the loss of Tower Records, retail CDs stores have officially died by the one-two punch of Best Buy and the Internet, while instrument retailers have been pounded to a pulp by the Internet and Guitar Center. Only small town stores like Harrison’s Guitarsmiths and Ashley Music have any hope of survival because they exist in a town too small for Guitar Center to reach. And even Guitar Center, I’m told by my sources, has not posted a profit in a very long time. Maybe it’s because musicians are by nature bargain-seekers. We’re not generally a demographic known for our petty cash. We’ll seek the bargains whererever they may be, be it Ebay or Amazon or somewhere else. The used guitar market in general has nearly dried up as people are learning that pawn shops and music stores will never give you a reasonable amount of cash for your instrument compared to Ebay.

For everything you gain, you lose something.

I have returned from vacation, and a New York Travelogue is ready. Feast upon it. I had intended to blog throughout the trip but we left the dodgy Russian mafia hotel with good WiFi for the cushier environs of the uptown hotel near Central Park with crappy WiFi.

I feel exhausted and detoxed from the pollution and adrenaline of NYC, but I now have had my spirits lifted and my political soul resurrected by the results of yesterday’s midterm elections. Higher am I lifted with the news that Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down. It’s morning in America again, and the Bush Aminstration is hopefully drinking a warm cup of STFU with their humble pie.