American Joe's (Pennsylvania Trip Pt. 2)

HEY! sAM HELL'S HUGE DEMONSTRATION AT THE RIVOLI IS COMING UP ON THURSDAY, MARCH 27TH AT 10:00PM. GET THE DETAILS BY CLICKING THE TITLE OF THIS BLOG ABOVE! DRAMA!


Short summary for those who haven’t read part 1: sam Hell and I have just arrived in Harrisburg, PA at Glen and Wanda’s. Oh and I enjoy zombie movies. Now on with the tale:

Most of the bands performing at the Millennium Music Conference 12 had opted to stay at the festival’s chosen accommodations: The Radisson. However our mutual friend, P-Mo in Toronto, arranged it so that sam Hell and I skipped the Radisson and instead bunked at Glen and Wanda’s. Which turned out to be way more 5 star than any hotel we could’ve ever booked! By the way everyone needs a P-Mo in their life. This guy has helped, encouraged, prayed, yelled at and with sam Hell, plus he's an alright chap to head to the yea ol pub for a pint. Support and pints, every artist should be so blessed to have a P-Mo in their world.

Anyways…

It’s easy to understand why people personify America. America is a country saddled with contradictions, ideas, hopes, dreams and regrets. Just like every person you’ll ever meet. As we get off the Interstate we see all of that openly displayed as we cruise in the neighborhood towards Glen and Wanda’s. First we see dilapidated homes…poverty. Suddenly everyone is black. Barber shops. Churches on street corners. Graffiti. It’s a combination that instantly brings up fear...for most. I'd like to argue that these areas to be the most exciting; God tends to show up a lot more obviously in these hoods. As we drive on the houses start to improve…the black people fade away and are replaced by white people. All of this happens within 3 blocks. This is America. It’s easy for us to see these things because we’re outsiders.

We know America not just because we’ve experienced it but because we’ve also experienced her art. We’ve see the wild colourful distortions of Andy Warhol’s work, the graceful soaring leap of Michael Jordan and listened to the tales of busted dreams and thin hopes in songs by Springsteen and Dylan. We watch Michael Moore movies and shake our heads and sigh our disgust at all the appropriate parts then head out to Starbucks to argue solutions we never will implement.

To be in America, to see it, to smell it, touch it transforms what you know about the country. America is the only country that sells its citizens a dream, but all too often when you look around all you see are nightmares instead of freedom. To us outsiders that’s how it appears, to you who live there, day in and day out; well I can’t speak for you. Still this is why sam Hell and I were excited to spend time with Glen and Wanda.

Stepping into their home was like stepping into the Wonder Years. If you’ve ever seen that old TV show their home is similar to that, antiquated but in such a pleasing, soothing manner. I spotted a computer in one room and it seemed so…modern and out of place. In another room I was disappointed to see on the coffee table a Time Magazine and not a Life. Stepping into their house was like…coming home. sam Hell and I felt like we could literally shrug off the hectic world and relax…just be. As we sat down to the dinner they graciously prepared for us—out of this world sloppy joes (how fitting seeing sam Hell and I coming off the long road trip…we are sloppy joes!)—our awesome hosts surprised us, entertained us, debated us and stuffed us. I’m not sure how I kept my pants on for the whole meal. It was fascinating listening to them talk about American politics and the future of America while being surrounded by old school furniture and a basement of retro board games like Sorry and Uno. In some ways, it felt like they considered the future and then wisely decided not to go for it.

One of the ongoing debates in those long car rides On The Road that sam Hell and I have is about classic rock vs. modern music. I mean this all boils down to nostalgia and if marketers ever figure out how to bottle that then we’ll be buying way more crap than we could ever want or need. Still we’re either sold this myth or we just accept this myth that things were simpler back then, whenever back then is. Maybe there really was a time in American’s history when it was simpler, less complicated. All I know is if you continue to tightly hold onto the past you can’t accept your future. Future requires being grabbed by both hands, nobody holds onto destiny loosely. I enjoy the potential of the future far more than I enjoy the possibilities of the past.

Carrying on…I’ve written before about Tour Moms and it’s no surprise Wanda ends up in the sam Hell Tour Mom Hall of Fame. Heck, Glen is a great Tour Dad and we’ve also encountered those along our long journey. Had the trip been just to go and visit their home, have dinner and hear their take on America it’d have been totally worth it. But ah…sam Hell and I came to Harrisburg to play a gig, not just get fat off sloppy joes and get rich with ideas. Stick around. It’s about to get hot...as James Brown will appear. Serious? You’ll see.

(to be continued…)

Sammy