… so I’m taking one. For a whole month. Yeah, I know – lucky bastard or what?
However, I thought I deserved it, since at the end of this month I mark 40 years on the planet. So I decided to see a bit more of it, and have chosen the USA as my main destination. I’ll be driving from New Orleans to Nashville on a journey that could well take in both country and western. Then I’m flying up to New York in an attempt to be fabulous for at least one night only. And when I get back, I’m not hanging about – I’m off to Istanbul for 5 days.
You know, that whole American-Turkish combo holiday that everyone’s talking about? No?
New York’s been on the list of must do stuff since way before 9/11. And it wasn’t the terrorism that put me off going before, it was the politics. Now I think we all know that Obama’s not turned out to be the Saviour that we all thought – but it’s got to be better visiting America under his watch rather than the previous guy. At least that’s my excuse for putting it off for so long.
And I thought that doing the Deep South before the Big Apple might give me a bit of an insight into something Completely Different. I’m aiming to take in a few live music gigs, maybe get involved in a couple myself (even if that means the old karaoke vice) and see a bit of the real USA before becoming a complete tourist case in NYC.
Naturally I’ll also be sampling some of the finest radio in the world. Seriously, if you’ve never heard US talk radio stations, you haven’t heard anything yet. Every city and town has its own resident shock jock, and the few that become really famous command audiences of tens of millions. On top of that, the range of music radio in the States in unparalelled, though as I alluded to above, it might be a little restricted in Louisiana and Tennassee.
Anyway, the neck is shaved red, the Stetson’s ready and I Have Dollars. Bring it on.
NewsMutt 