Autumn Souvenir

Something odd has happened to my spirit since returning from Southern France. I can't quite place it, but there's some sort of weight that's been lifted. The things that once brought on severe anxiety just don't seem to matter that much anymore. For some reason my head's held higher. For some reason, there's a lot more hope in my spirit than there was before. Things that would normally weigh on me and stifle my spirit now just seem to roll off. I really don't know the point of this post. But something's good. Music sounds better. The sky seems brighter. The days ahead seem more promising. It's all opening up.

Last night was just downright classic. Amanda and I started out the night by grabbing some Mexican food. Ok, eating Mexican while in France may not be the greatest move, but we were absolutely spent on French food. We had a few margaritas and were treated to a number of free shots by the waiter. We then strolled around looking for a cool pub. We ended up dropping into some pretty basic pub and grabbing a seat in the corner. When Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" came on in the bar I knew that we were in for a good night. While we sipped our beers, we started to chat with two young guys who were sitting next to us. One knew english pretty well, while the other knew nary a word. Whenever I tried to talk to the latter guy, we usually just gave up trying to converse and would high five. Then came the shots. And many of them. And then more. We headed upstairs to hear the band play. The first song they played was the Stones' "Paint It Black". I couldn't help but si

The music festival in Cannes is now over and I'm sittinig in my hotel room in Nice. Today we spent the day walking around the Cote d'Azure (or whatever body of water is in Nice) and shit if it wasn't amazing. Contrary to what I'd been told (or warned about), the folks in France have been unbelievably nice. It's simply a different world over here. As I sat on the water today, I think I had one of those moments. All stress was swept away, the waves were crashing a mere ten feet from me and the sun was blazing. We stopped and had a beer on a patio. We saw two dogs brawl. We saw every single person in our vicinity smoking butts. Nina Simone's now playing. Dinner awaits. A pub after that. Monocco tomorrow.

This would probably have been my #1 album of the year: Amy Millan's "Honey From the Tombs"