The Alamo Drafthouse, Austin

After two pretty awful bus journeys I decided to take the train from Norman south to Austin, Texas. Thankfully the line had been reopened after flooding. Although the second train of the day was four hours late leaving Fort Worth, I still prefer to travel via Amtrak. The trains here are very spacious, some have observation rooms, with glass ceiling and restaurant cars and no one boards in pyjamas.
I knew the journey to Austin had been long as I finished reading my second novel of the day.

The Sleeper Train

I came to Austin because it has a great film and music scene. In particular I wanted to check out one of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas. This is a small chain of cinemas in Austin, what sets them apart from all the large chain cinemas, is that you can order a meal and beverages from your seat. The seating is like any other cinema but there is a plank style table running along each row, this is were a waitress serves food and drinks. Under the table is a small light so you can write down your order and then put it on a magnetic strip to get a waitresses attention. The menu is as big as any restaurant and there is a wide selection of alcoholic drinks on offer.

Austin's Capitol Building, some 15ft taller than the one in D.C.

The cinema also sets itself apart by having a special pre-film show. For Transformers they showed the original TV series and cut in some 1980's adverts for the toys. They also have special screening of older movies, for instance they are showing Conan the Barbarian in a few weeks and showed an alternate trailer. It was similar to the Mary Poppins, Scary Mary cut.
They also show films and change the menu to the theme of the film. It's surprisingly isn't distracting watching a film and eating or while others eat. I guess eating a burger is a lot quieter than eating popcorn. It was a great way to see a film. I guess they also choose films that suit that kind of environment. I'll be disappointed next time I go to a cinema and can't order a beer and a some fries. Gaz for the state of your bank balance I'm glad this isn't available in the UK.

Clay Clan 4th July Celebrations

I was excited to be spending my first "4th July" in Stigler, Oklahoma. Amanda promised Pennie and I a blast and that is exactly what we got. It seems Independence Day is celebrated by blowing stuff up. At the centre of all the fun was Amanda's Dad, Tony and his brother David, they used the children of the family as the excuse but they had the most fun. Thanks to Tony and David I now know how to operate a potato cannon. Fill the tube with hairspray, seal and ignite through a small hole and aim. Pennie and I tried to be offended by the target, a home made Red Coat, but we desperately wanted to see what would happen when the potato was fired at the target.

The drive to Stigler, over the flooded Eufala Lake

I had mentioned to Pennie and Amanda how I really wanted to fire a gun while in the States and had been planning a visit to a firing range when I reached California. Why California you ask, well duh, that's where Mel Gibson visits a firing range in Lethal Weapon.
Amanda said, why visit a stuffy firing range when her Uncle had a few guns tucked away at home. The quote of the trip has to be Amanda in Walmart, "My Dad's at the back of the store buying ammunition".

Tony teaches me how to load a rifle, do I look like I'm having fun?!

Firing the 9mm

Tony and the Red Coat Target

So we headed out to a large deserted pond and I was carefully shown how to load a rifle by Tony. It felt very surreal to be loading a gun, we made targets of the empty can's floating in the water. I've always felt quite strongly that if you want to lower the number of deaths from guns in the States you have to do something about licensing laws and I still believe that. But hypocritically I loved the feel of firing a gun and can see why so many people choose this as a hobby.

I have no idea what I'm "holding", but it was brilliant fun!

The fun really started when David brought out his semi-automatic 9mm, wow. It's such a loud gun, when you pull the trigger it's actually hard to stay on your feet. After I fired it I found I was balancing on my heels. After Pennie's go she let out a little "ooh" noise. I don't think we could ever play bad cops in a movie! As our aims improved the sun came out and began to bake us so we headed back into Stigler.

The Potato Cannon

Amanda's family are all very close, her grandmother lives across the road from her Uncle David and his family and her Auntie Judy (who kindly put us up for the night) lives just a few streets away. But not everyone lives nearby, but they had still made the journey to spend the day together. Everyone made me feel very welcome. David and Paula fed us all, but also everyone seemed to have brought their own dish to share. I particularly enjoyed Amanda's apple pie with her Aunt Judy's homemade ice cream.
After we'd eaten, an archery target was set up and I had another go with a deadly weapon. Eventually the bow and arrows where turned to face the poor Red Coat and he took some more punishment.

With bow and arrow.

Then it was time for the "Marshmallow Guns", new to me too. Acting like a blow gun, but the ammunition is marshmallows! This was fun until Tanner, Amanda's cousin's 4 year old son started eating the "used ammunition".

Brits with the first strike! Pay those taxes!!

Pennie having fun.

Earlier in the day Tony explained his big project to me. This was to provide the finale for the fireworks at the lake in the evening. Tony had built a boat out of polystyrene and with a large arsenal of fireworks and some good old fashioned gunpowder, had it rigged to entertain us all.

Tony's Finale Fireworks,

Pennie and I load up on Fireworks

Around dusk we headed out of town to a lake, because so many of the local lakes are closed due to flooding, this particular lake was really busy. Families were settled in all around the lake letting off fireworks and having a good time. It's only legal to sell fireworks in the US for the two weeks before the 4th July. All along the highway out to Stigler we had passed Firework Stands. Unlike in the UK the packaging is aimed at children and some fireworks are as cheap as 50 cents. We bought a bag of fireworks to add to the arsenal everyone else already had. We thought the "Iraq Attack" helicopter with small tanks was a little distasteful so we bought one. Apparently they were even selling fireworks from the back of an ambulance as a fund raising drive!

Holly and Ally fire Roman Candles over the lake

Fireworks on the lake

I can't think of a better way to be introduced to the tradition of Independence Day, I only wish we English folk celebrating St Georges Day on the same scale. I suppose we'd have to be given the day off first and relax the laws on gunpowder.

On the Road Again

From Memphis I took a greyhound bus to Norman, Oklahoma. A friend from Ealing now lives in Norman with her girlfriend Amanda. Pennie is studying for her Masters at the University of Oklahoma, in Norman. I was excited to be heading to friends again, but not so excited about the 5am bus from Memphis to Little Rock. Thankfully it was an hour late, unfortunately when my alarm went off at 3.55am I didn't know this. I stood with my fellow passengers as we were searched, along with our carry-on luggage for bombs and dangerous weapons. It's okay to transport them in the hold. We all watched as a man with a urine soaked crotch was escorted off a bus, everyone silently hoped they wouldn't get his seat.
Finally I boarded the first bus of the day, pulling out of Memphis an hour late. In Little Rock I met my connecting bus that would take me all the way to Oklahoma City, only 30 miles from Norman.
My fellow passengers included a large woman, she looked like she weighed 500lbs plus, wearing VERY revealing pyjamas with a pillow tucked under her arm. I also met a guy who reminded me of Cletus from The Simpson's, he kept asking the driver to stop, "I just want to get me a coke man!". I did befriend one of my fellow passengers Lesley. He was on his way to Oklahoma City to visit his very sick granddaughter. Lesley asked me about the ranches in England, I tried to explain we don't have ranches, but then he asked me the price of a pick up truck in England. I played along.
We finally arrived in Oklahoma City two hours late, I'd missed the bus to Norman, the next one would leave in the evening. I knew Pennie and Amanda were meeting me at Norman's bus station (a garage) so I asked the station guy if he could call the garage in Norman and let them know. But he said no one was picking up the phone. After a taxi ride to Norman and Amanda and Pennie's wasted trip to the City we finally met up. Valuable lesson learned, in future I will carry phone numbers with me, not hidden in my email account.

The Clay/Vargas Residence, Norman

Pennie and Amanda gave me a quick tour of Norman (including the 65,000 seater football stadium that is packed for each game, yes we are talking College Football), and then we went to a great Mexican restaurant. A few hours later we headed out to a bar (I forget the name of) that has great views of Norman and Bingo! Amanda won a game and paid for the beer. Thanks Amanda. I also got to meet some of Pennie and Amanda's friends. We headed home knowing we had an early start the next day (4th July) for the drive to Stigler, Oklahoma to join Amanda's family for the Independence Day celebrations.

Elvis has left the building.

The Rev. Al Green

Last Sunday I went to the Full Gospel Tabernacle, Memphis, Tennessee. Al Green built (well I guessed paid for someone else to build) this church in 1976. He made religion the focus of his life, but conveniently built a recording studio at the back of the church building. I'm a fan of Al Green and had heard the two and a half hour Sunday service was a must.
So with some nervous excitement and slight concern of being revealed as an atheist I entered the Church. The building itself doesn't hold any expensive statues or paintings, but has a genuine community feel. The majority of the congregation were African Americans, the number of "visitors" hovered around 20. There were some fellow Brits in attendance. But it was fairly empty.
I thought I'd spotted Al Green when I saw a pastor dressed in a white suit (actually all the pastors wore white, apart from the one white pastor, he was too pasty looking for white) he looked a little like Apollo Creed and had a certain style about him only a soul singer of the 70's could possess. But I was wrong.
The very, very old Bishop Green took to the stand and the whole congregation prayed he'd make it to the altar without taking a tumble and breaking a hip. This was Al Green's 95 year old father. I'd like to say he looked younger, but in fact he looked older. He held the mic far too close to his mouth and in a thick Southern accent started preaching. I have no idea what he said. I thought everyone else could understand him, but when one of his commands was met with silence, a pastor took the mic and explained Bishop Green wanted the left side of the church to stand.
I was concerned he may faint, I a healthy 30 year old have trouble standing for so long without feeling light headed, but he soldiered on. Finally there was some music, it was nothing like the music I've heard in Church before. It was electric and shook the whole building. I imagine Bishop Green didn't hear a thing.
Eventually (after much whispering between the "visitors") it was revealed Al was in London, yes that's right I was in Memphis while Al Green was touring Britain. We were asked to pray for Al while "bombs are falling on London".
The congregation welcomed a local celebrity on stage, a man who preaches via the television. I found it creepy when he kept telling us how much money he has, "I was given a cheque for 7,000 just the other day, I never have to work again", "I'm payed to pray to the Lord". Not once did he mention the money going to a good cause, so I was left to assume it wasn't.
Bishop Green asked if anyone would like to share their stories, yes at this point I could understand him. A lady stood up, obviously emotional she began to thank the Lord for her family. By the time she'd finished I had no idea why she was grateful I would have disowned them.
"I want to thank the Lord for getting my daughter out of prison, she been there one year". "She say to me, why Mama, why so long" I was thinking maybe grand theft auto?
"Mama maybe so I can teach the Lord's words in here". Or maybe your still a danger to society.
Admittedly this woman's daughter could have been wrongly convicted, but then she started to tell us about her son.
"It wasn't him with the drugs, but the people he was with" Um, I grew impatient as her wails grew louder. "We be praying for him and the Lord listened, because now he's out on parole". Thankfully she became too tearful to go on and the service was wrapped up by more incomprehensible words from Bishop Green.

Neon Sign in the Car Museum
Graceland!
Well there seems to be a few problems with Blogger today, for instance I can't type in the title field. But as today is the first day in a while I've decided to take it easy and want to catch up here, so I'm pressing ahead. I'm posting this from Austin, Texas having arrived here from a wonderful few days with my friends Pennie and Amanda in Oklahoma, but let me tell you about that later.
Okay so where to begin? I took the Greyhound from New Orleans to Memphis, this took me through America's poorest state, Mississippi. Well if poverty is judged by the number of people over 200lbs, 20 churches per square mile and black folk, then yes Mississippi is poor. Arriving in New Orleans I had prepared myself for all the images we came to know when Katrina was televised. But I've been astounded by how poor huge area's of the South seem to be. Is this really the most powerful nation in the world?
I stayed in a great hostel in Memphis, the Pilgrim House Hostel. I was concerned when I first booked a bed online, but all my doubts disappeared when I walked into Pilgrim House. The hostel is part of First Congressional Church in the South Cooper area of Memphis. The church is quite different to how I imagined churches to be in the South. They have many community projects, from daycare to bankrupcy advice. There is a fair trade shop on site, selling clothing, crafts, food, coffee and stop the war pins. They also have a theatre on site, the complex is huge.
Inside the hostel, teh staff consists mostly of students who live on site for free and earn a small amount of money from running the hostel. Everyone is extremely friendly and the notice board has photographs of all the employees. This is such a simple thing to do, but I can't tell you the amount of hostels I've stayed in where you can't tell employee from guest and invariably get it wrong. Guests are encouraged to do a chore a day (nothing too heavy) and receive their $10 deposit back. They also offer guests free wifi and a great kitchen. It was here I met Emily (a native of Mississippi) she is an intern for the summer at a local chuch day centre and had friends visiting from out of town. When they learned I was also going to Gracland they gave me a lift. Frustratingly since leaving New York I've found a car is invaluable. Public transport in Memphis was pretty poor. Considering Graceland is an obvious tourist destination it's near impossible to reach by public transport.
Graceland itself was very different to what I had in mind. The "mansion" is actually quite small, this is probably because I've seen too many episodes of Cribs and expect every celebrity to have a 20 bed mansion, 12ft fish tank, jacuzzi/suana and gold plated swimming pools.

Elvis' Study

Graceland has it's opulence, Elvis had a thing for planes and cars, but the house itself is cosy and seems like a home. Well a home with thousands of tourists traipsing through each day and a jungle themed room.
I was surprised to see Elvis's kitchen only had a four hob oven and was quite small. I'm not a huge Elvis fan and wanted to visit out of curiosity more than anything. But I was surprised to learn Elvis liked to read (he had Herman Hesse's Siddharta on his bedside table) and held two black belts in different martial arts. I left Graceland feeling sad that his life ended prematurely. It seemed as if he was searching for something all his life, different to how he is often percieved. It is also odd to come across Elvis' grave alongside those of his beloved parents, in the backyard. It's understandable he's buried at Graceland (he never wanted to move), but for this to be next to a walkway guiding tourists with there sweaty headphones, broadcasting an audio tour and a suggested quiet moment seems unfortunate.

The suit.

Graceland is on the Elvis Presley Boulevard and the hub of the tourist "Graceland" is across the road, here there are 12 gift shops, a handful of Elvis exhibits and surprisingly only two restuarants. There is a chance to board the Lisa Marie (that's Elvis beloved plane,not his daughter) and take a look at the gold plated seat belts close up. I found it to be interesting experience, but not the kitsch one I was expecting, Graceland afterall was once a home.

The Lisa-Marie

I Stayed in a Crack Den!!

Okay so I have your attention? I found the St Peter's House Hotel to be very warm and welcoming. My room had access to the wrap around balcony, the horse drawn carriage tours would pass by below and I'd hear the guides narration of the French Quarter.
I noticed when I first arrive the toilet tank was slow to fill, I thought I'll mention that in reception later. The following morning the toilet wouldn't flush at all. At breakfast I mentioned this to the receptionist. When I returned to my room the handy man followed me. He lifted the lid on the tank to figure out what was wrong. I left him to it and looked out over the balcony to see New Orleans slowly coming to life.
The handy man quite excitedly called me into the room, I was afraid of what he'd found in the toilet. He was waving a soggy brown bag that he'd found in the tank. He opened the bag for me to peer in, I smiled and gingerly peered into the bag. What I saw looked like coiled copper wiring. The handy man excitedly told me this is what people use to smoke crack.
I imagine this guy wasn't employed for his customer service skills, but I was glad he let me into a bit of gossip.
From now on I will try to avoid staying in crack dens, I'll be checking the toilet tanks.

Mississippi Steamboat Tour

Steamboat

I had a romantic notion of taking a trip on a steamboat, ever since reading Huckleberry Finn. I imagined the music, the heat and the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately the tour I took in New Orleans didn't meet all my expectations. To begin with the two hour tour took in a mostly industrial landscape, kind of like a paying for a tour of Birkenhead docks. The audio narration included the history of the containers we passed, along with the sugar processing plant, it was very different in Huckleberry's time.
However the steady movement of the steamboat made for a relaxing two hours.




Inside the Engine Room