I hightailed it out of Houston last Wednesday when it was pretty clear Ike was gonna slap us around. Unlike most of
those trying to evacuate, I eschewed the ever popular I-10 and I-45 routes for Highway 6. I followed that up
through Waco and then hit I-35 up to my parents' in Oklahoma City. Along the way, I enjoyed another non-Dominican
cigar and cranked the tunes.
Since I've been in OKC, I've made the most of it. Power was out in our office, so I didn't do any work until
Tuesday. I hit Guest Room Records on the north side of
town where I picked up the Black Kids' "Partie
Traumatic", Hot Hot Heat's "Make
Up the Breakdown", Ryan Adams' "Follow
the Lights" EP, The Cure's "Staring
at the Sea", and Pink Floyd's "The
Wall" on vinyl. While I love my Cactus, Guest Room is a helluva store. They also have a store in
Norman, home of my alma mater, OU (Boomer Sooner!), which I plan
to visit on my way out of town.
I've done a lot hanging out with friends. We went to Electro
Lounge one night and I was thoroughly impressed. Great beer selection (Sierra Nevada, Stone, Unibroue, etc.) and an amazing jukebox (Tokyo Police Club, Silversun Pickups, Peter Bjorn and John, The Pixies, Flaming
Lips, and on and on). My kind of place! We hit Maker's in Bricktown another night for cigars and cocktails. I saw the Flaming
Lips Alley street sign for the first time there but unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of
it with my phone.
Last night, we watched some friends' band play happy hour at Mickey Mantle's downtown. After that, we ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings for karaoke. It's been quite awhile since I
did it, but I rose above the mediocrity of many of my fellow karaokers (okay, so that may not really be a word)
to deliver an animated performance of John Michael Montgomery's "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)".
I'm so ready to head back to H-Town, but dreading the stench in my fridge. I still have no power, but luckily
Jamie snagged us a place where we can stay for a couple weeks if necessary. As Bobby Bare
said, I'm "going back to Houston Houston Houston".