US – Page 2 – Jean-Paul De Roover

US Odyssey Part 3: Pre-SXSW and the red-light show

April 2, 2011April 2, 2011 By Jean-Paul De Roover Tagged as austin, hooker, hourly rate, motel, prostitute, really nice people, red light, rednexican, SXSW, US

We arrived in Austin on Tuesday, a day before the music portion of SXSW started, so if you’re looking for info on that, check out the next entry in the US Odyssey.

My technique for finding places to stay, and also to meet people in this country are to play open mics. That way, they get to hear what I do, and I get to show how likeable/non-sketchy I am, and that I’d be a worthy addition to their floor. We went to Opa, a greek bar and restaurant to check out their open mic night, only to find out from the coordinator, Annabee (sp?) that they had prearranged scheduling due to SXSW. We chatted for a while, and found out that she likes to refer to herself as a Rednexican (the brilliant blend of Redneck and Mexican), and when she parties she usually has a friend in charge of keeping her out of trouble, referred to as the Beekeeper. Well, she was helping us out in this instance, by giving us a bunch of different numbers of people to call to see about renting a room for the weekend.

At SXSW, everyone’s trying to cash in, whether by hosting ‘unofficial’ events in the hopes that they’ll get more traffic, or by renting out couches and extra bedrooms at ridiculous prices. One person we talked to was offering a bedroom for $120 (to put it into perspective, most Motel 6’s are around $30-$40). With most hotels/motels being booked up for SXSW, that was starting to look more and more like the only possibility.

We hunted around for cheap motels a little bit more, and found one at the ridiculously low price of $15.99 a night. I walked up to the window while Shannon sat in the car, and before I even saw the check-in clerk, I saw a posting mentioning an hourly rate, so I turned and walked back to the car, walking past two ‘ladies of the night’ in short shorts leaving a motel room. A few blocks over we found another motel, this time for $47.99. Sold. However, as I was paying, Shannon was again in the car and this time saw a very fancy vehicle drop off a younger woman on the street corner, who may or not have been counting some bills. Alas, I had already paid for the Economy Inn before Shannon relayed this to me. Ah well, the room was pretty decent, with a renovated bathroom, and all new TV and furnishings (everything was Sanyo, maybe they cut them a deal for buying in bulk or something?). We sit down, and then we get a text from one of the numbers that Annabee had given us; they have a room available for FREE, and we’re welcome to stay there for the duration of our trip. Really? That’s amazing!

Morgan's backyard in Austin, and Mallie - photo by Shannon Lepere (www.shannonlepere.com)

Of course, if we’d like to make a donation, they’ll pass the money along to a non-profit group that helps keep Austin a Pet Kill-Free Zone. I go downstairs and try to haggle with the owner of the motel to get our money back, but no dice, so we leave the motel anyway and go stay with our new friends Morgan and Richard!

US Odyssey Part 1: Entering the States

March 27, 2011 By Jean-Paul De Roover Tagged as BBQ, buffalo, cincinnati, family guy, florence, garmin, napkins, saint catharines, snow white, surfin bird, US, waffle house, y'all

Here begins the US Odyssey, in many parts, as there’s lots to share!

The first leg of the trip saw us leave Canada through Niagara after having breakfast with my friend Timur in Saint Catharines (he used to book at a venue I played at, and now runs the bookings for the Mansion House) at a little diner before crossing into the US.

photo by Shannon Lepere (www.shannonlepere.com)

Once across, we were in Buffalo, NY, and it was remarkable how many old abandoned factories there were. I wasn’t aware that Buffalo used to be such a place of industry before. The interstate is nice to drive on, although it took us a while to get used to the speed being in miles rather than kilometres. Thankfully, the GPS we have displays it for us in a large font, so we always know. The Garmin has been good, but then randomly decides to send you in tight circles over and over again. “Recalculating…Recalculating…when possible, make a U-turn”. Shut up, Jill. You, and your computer generated Australian accent.

Back to driving. Now we’re motoring through Cincinnati at night, and the overhead displays that would normally say “traffic is slow at next intersection” or something similar, instead say “missing adult male – black caddillac – licence #_ _ _ _ _ “. I guess we’ll keep our eyes open for that particular car? It’s either really nice that they’re spreading the word about this particular missing person, or absolutely impressive if that’s the ONLY missing person in Cincinnati at that point in time. Nevermind, I doubt that!

We got as far as Florence, Kentucky on our first night, so we slept there, waking up the next day to find the above particularly awesome sight. Apparently way back in the day they had plans for a large mall, so they put up a water tower that said “Florence Mall”, but funding fell through and the mall didn’t get the go-ahead so they changed it to read “Y’all” instead.

Then we headed to Waffle House for the first time, where we had a very funny set of experiences. First off, the staff were so unbelievably friendly and bubbly, they were even singing. They did an abridged version of ‘Whistle While You Work‘, while also referencing the Family Guy episode that revolves around “Surfin’ Bird“. There was a trucker sitting behind us, and he even commented, “this is strange, usually the people at Waffle House are angry and sad.” We then struck up conversation, and it turns out he’s from North Carolina, and criss-crosses the country, however he’s not willing to go to Canada for fear of getting stuck in a blizzard. We then got hints on different places to go for food, and his affinity for BBQ shone through in his recommendations. Now, we must find a Sunny’s BBQ, where we “best be bringing some napkins!”