i am trapped in downtown nashville. i can't leave for lunch because if i move my car from the lot it is parked in, the chances are good that i will not have a parking space to come back to. today marks the beginning of the annual country music festival held in nashville called fanfair. goodness gracious.
i am a mite bitter that my daily routine has been invaded. but i was warned, and i knew it was coming.
as if the parking situation weren't bad enough, the coffee shop i have chosen to retreat to with a nice cup of herbal tea has also been invaded. by a local aspiring country wanna-be. he plays his guitar and twangs his way through song after song about what else? nashville.
i can't leave the coffee shop, because there really isn't anywhere else to go. this is usually a quiet place during the lunch hour. everything else is a honky-tonk or a bbq joint.
okay…i think i just heard him sing "i didn't know she had a husband until i saw the '44"
(that's a gun, right?)
i'm am so outta here.
being one who lives in nashville and does very much like it, i have to say that the thought of your experience horrifies me. it’s sad that nashville has the potential to be such a cool city, but the country stigma overwhelms anyone who doesn’t live here, and, at times, even those who do live here.
As one who does not live in Nashville, I am equally horrified. Or perhaps more horrified. Songs about cheating and guns? Parking Crises? Lack of non-honky-tonk/non-bbq respites? Run, don’t walk, to Cali!
But then, I might be biased.
Also as one who does not live in Nashville, alas I am– shall we say– philospohical: you’ll find ’stigma’ (“country” or otherwise) elsewhere, too — particularly (?) in California. It’s called, “the world.” Thankfully, you’re called to be in the world, but not of it. Let your light shine!!!!