LONE VISITOR
Alabama
I ate fried green tomatoes for the first time in the state of Alabama. A part of me did not think they were a real food item until I saw them on the menu at the Northport Diner, located just outside the city of Tuscaloosa. I thought they were some sort of mysterious folklore, but they were just as described…sliced green tomatoes fried in batter.
I drove west to east across Alabama in 2006 from Tupelo, Mississippi, to Atlanta, Georgia, for New Years.
Besides the Northport Diner, I ate at Waffle House at least two times a day. Waffle House was my weakness, and if I traveled back to the South today, it would be still. The whole Waffle House experience is charming to me but I do not know why exactly; maybe I just like Southern comfort food or all the grease dripping everywhere on the plate.
I walked around the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa but it did not feel right. A small part of me wanted to attend college in the South just for the experience.
Later in my life, that small part of me became reality in the state of Mississippi.
***
In 2008, I was a roadie in a popular Indie/Alternative Rock band named Red Hill City based out of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We played a show in Livingston, Alabama, in a large auditorium on the campus of The University of West Alabama, but it was not a show for college students.
The band was invited to play with Jacky Jack White and Mississippi Chris Sharp & The Jangalang String Band, both of which catered to a much older audience.
I could not believe the people who attended the concert, some of whom must leave their houses only for church on Sunday and bluegrass music shows.
Our band was nothing out of the ordinary but the response from the crowd was amusing.
“Oh my gosh…I had never heard anything like that before.”
“How do you guys make that kind of music?”
“Your music is called ‘New-Age,’ right?”
“I don’t know anybody who listens to your type of music.”
CD sales skyrocketed that night. We almost ran out. Some people bought two, one to give to a friend.
“You…where you from?” a woman inquired of me.
“I live in Hattiesburg,” I replied.
“No…but yous from somewheres else…you talk different.”
I had been outed!
Afterwards we went to Sonic and got the worst ice cream I have ever tasted.
***
Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast of America in August 2005. I visited Mobile, Alabama, in March of 2007. Most of the structures in the area were temporary or built purposely cheap if another massive storm hits again.
The hotel I stayed at had recently opened, and it too was built semi-permanent. It was a beautiful hotel but looked like it could fall over at any moment. Workers unwrapped brand new televisions for the rooms while I was there. The hotel was directly adjacent to the water, right next to the USS Alabama battleship. I wondered what the previous hotel looked like, and how many years it had stood until it was blown away.
Early in the morning, I watched the sun rise over Mobile Bay, breathed in the semi-humid air, and could smell the salt in the hazy air.
