straight_talk.jpg
Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz
Emma (aka Bug) hops up and down in front of John McCain’s Straight Talk Express in Memphis recently. Anita took this shot while she, Lara and Bug were doing the Memphis tourist thing, complete with plenty of Elvis and barbecue.
blueoyestercult.jpg
Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz
No, it isn’t 1979. And this isn’t Blue Oyster Cult turning the entire band loose with guitars during a mind-numbing “Don’t Fear the Reaper” encore. It’s RiddickFest, an army of guitarists who know half of every song ever written.
Really, though, it was a blast having a bunch of my closest friends in town for the weekend to float on the lake and make music on the back porch. And some of the music was downright transcendental. Even without the cowbell …
RiddickFest photos here …
copperleaf_appleton.jpg
Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz
The view from my fifth floor room at the Copperleaf Boutique Hotel in Appleton, Wisconsin. Overall, nice hotel. OK gym (clean but too few machines). And Appleton was a nice surprise. Great cigar store (Appleton Souvenir and Cigar Co.) a short walk from the hotel and a watering hole called the Durty Leprechaun which, sadly, I didn’t test drive.
That’s the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center to the right, on College Avenue, where I found the cigar store and noticed the Durty Leprechaun.