 ©1999-1999 ICFTP What're you, kidding? |
Sunday, May 9, 1999
Wow. Yesterday was what you might call eventful. Actually, yesterday was more like a religious experience. I drank in life and then some. Let’s see, what did I do...
Saturday morning, woke up. :) Lay in bed with Christy and talked and laughed and snuggled and made love. Got up and jumped in the shower. Headed out.
First item on the agenda was scouting a photo shoot for Integrity Music. Anita had called and told me they were looking for a ‘cathedral of trees.’ I had a few ideas of places to check out, Springill College, Brookley Field, some places in Baldwin County. Headed out to Springhill. It was a gorgeous day, clear and cool (well, relatively cool... you only sweated if you were actually DOING something, instead of it being so hot that you just sat and stewed), drove up Old Shell Road to the college. I always think of what it must’ve been like when this really was the Shell Road, paved with white oyster shells, and there was nothing between Mobile and Spring Hill but houses, fields and woods. I drove into the college and looked at the Avenue of the Oaks, a long lane shaded by live oaks on either side. Their branches reach across to each other, making the road into a tunnel, with the manor house on the far end of the road, perfectly framed by the trees. It’s a beautiful place, but it’s used in postcards and every piece of promo litererature that Springhill puts out. It would do, but I thought I could find something better. So I headed back down Old Shell, crossed over to Dauphin, and got on the interstate, headed south.
I pulled off on Duval street and drove in towards Brookley. I had gone from the yuppie, upscale Springhill to the south side of Mobile, under the interstate, where every house has bars on the windows. I drove over the railroad tracks and past Poppa Buddha’s onto the grounds of Brookley. Just past and to the left of the huge white Armory is a raised piece of land. Old, old live oaks stand there, draped in the spanish moss that is slowly disappearing from the rest of Mobile. It was around 10:30 am, and the trees were lit by the light coming from the east, and they were perfect. I was still going to head across the bay and check out other locations, but this was it: a stand of huge trees on a well-kept lawn, with the light streaming through the drifting silver-green moss. I drove around the site for a few minutes, took some notes on my Newton and laughed to myself and smiled a lot.
What else was done that day?
Shot two rolls worth of what I thought was memorable on the Causeway. Talked to fisherman. This is a story in and of itself, and the pictures will be up on the site soon. Got done shooting here and decided to go ahead and drop the film off at Walmart so it could process while I scouted down in Fairhope.
Drove over to Daphne. Picked up a beer and some beef jerky at the Shell station just off the interstate. The woman behind the counter remembered me, as “that guy who cut off his hair.” My driver’s license picture is of me in a shirt and tie with long, long brown hair. She and I chatted.
Dropped the two rolls of Causeway film and two rolls I shot of Trey off at the Walmart in Daphne. Headed south to Fairhope.
Drove down to the pier. Attempted to go to the park to the north of the pier, but the little dude in the gatehouse said it didn’t matter what I scouting for, it still cost a dollar to get in. Went up to the bluff over the park. It was lovely, open lawn with trees and a view of the beach below the bluff and the bay. I lit a joint as I walked around, eventually finding the wooden steps that led down through the kudzu and other greenery to the beach. I walked about halfway down and stopped at a small landing with two benches, presumably for people who wanted to rest halfway up. It was shady and dark and green amid all the plants. A tunnel below led to the beach, and a window of sunlight above led back to the top of the bluff. I headed back up and finished my joint sitting propped against a pine tree, looking out over the bay, listening to the geese and the children scream and honk at each other.
After a bit, I got up and headed back into town. Parked my car and made my way through all the pretty, nicely dressed shoppers to the small courtyard out front of Jus’ Gumbo. Opened the door and went in, into the blessed cool and shade. Sat down at the bar and ordered a Grolsch. While I was there, I was treated to two guys playing guitar, acoustic and electric, six string and twelve string, and Mark playing a bit of harp. Two Grolsch later, I went to Greer’s and bought some more film, came back and shot everyone. People at the bar, guys playing guitar, people drinking and talking and laughing at the tables.
After another Grolsch or so, headed back to WalMart to get my film.
The pictures of the Causeway were awesome. I spent the rest of the day in a happy daze, being happy about my photography. The pictures of Trey turned out well, also. More on that in a minute.
I headed back to Mobile, stopping at the same Shell station to buy another beer. The same lady was there behind the counter, and we talked for a few minutes. I showed her the pictures of the Causeway and she took me over to the postcard section of her store and told me I should get in touch with those people and have postcards made of my shots. Smile. We talked for a few more minutes and I headed out.
Back across the Causeway, smiling and driving, listening to Koerner Ray & Glover and Barenaked Ladies. Made my way back into Mobile, and was already past Broad Street before I realized that Christy was at Mayme’s working. U-turn!
The sent me back into the kitchen looking for Christy. She was washing something at the sink, in khakis and a white tshirt. Gave me a hug and we spent a goodly portion of the afternoon wandering around talking while she worked. They didn’t seem to mind at all, perhaps even welcoming the additional hand when it came to setting up the outside bar. I took Chris to Delchamps to get some club soda and ice. Rolled one in the parking lot waiting for her, then smoked it on the way back to the hotel. Had a drink with Christy at the bar when we got back, big Jack Daniel’s and soda water on ice in a beer mug. Hugged her goodbye, gave her a kiss and headed out to show the pictures to Trey.
He wasn’t home. Headed to Eric’s to show the pictures to them. Eric commisioned me to shoot ‘em, but Trey wanted to see them first. Too bad, he wasn’t home. Caught Eric and Susie as they were heading out to Mosely’s Meat Market to spend their income tax check. Went with em and watched Eric make the butcher-man very happy, spending almost $150 on raw red meat. At one point, while the butcher was weighing his ground beef (three two pound packs), Eric reached up and pinched a big chunk of raw hamburger off and stuffed it in his mouth. I thought the butched was gonna applaud. Eric munched it up happily, smilin’ the whole time.
I tell ya’ll, by this time I was just coasting along. I was high, drunk and most of all high on existence alone. Did I mention how insanely beautiful it was outside yesteray? It seemed that everywhere I went that day was sunshine and oak trees, pine trees, pine needles on the ground and people smiling and being friendly and talkative. I got to hear live music, I got to do my photo thing, I earned $100 from Integrity for finding them a good place to do a photo shoot. I remember walking towards Walmart from the parking lot. Some guy had a little train for kids to ride, but no one was in it and he was taking a nap in the cab. It was directly in my path. I hopped up in the first car and said “So where we going?” The guy popped up, tilted his cap back out of his eyes, looked up at me, laughed and settled back down. I hopped off the train and bopped on into Walmart.
It was just that kind of day.