soundscapes for deep listening #111 #ayearofhollerin #hollerinspace #phlassembled #movements #prismatic porches #philadelphia #politicourselves #philly #home

 
black love spells/*if it aint music with poets samantha storm burton and god conscious  

Stories from the road #onlyinatlanta

There are a million people inside, outside, and around Atlanta bus station. After disembarking the bus, folks make their way to the side of the bus where the doors to our luggage have been opened. The driver is at the entrance to the bus acting busy with directing passengers off the bus? Meanwhile, folks are getting busy unloading their own luggage because noone has showed up. These are mostly older women with too many bags. They take control because ain't  nobody got time to be waiting around to guess about if somebody else is gonna help you or not. That passengers are now in charge of fetching their stowed baggage is a new greyhound policy, perhaps. Only in Atlanta. Atlanta bus station is a zoo, a coven, a church. Passengers interpret for one another as bus station staff talk louder to make their point. The very black Puerto Rican man standing next to me is talking energetically on the phone in Spanish about la gua gua. Dude is pissed. Everyone has a story to tell. About how they hate the station in Atlanta because it's lawless. About Atlanta to Missouri vs to Philadelphia. About Black families and that one drunk uncle everybody has. About the stressed out mom over there yelling at the kid to shut up. About the last time they took the greyhound here in Atlanta in 2009 and vowed to never do it again. Yet here we all are. Standing close. Feeling and watching each other's rhythms. Sharing juice and spectacle. Greyhound authorities seem to have developed a habit of yelling at folk. "Pay attention and don't miss your bus!" It's paradise. You can even pay an extra $5 for priority boarding. These suckas is really on some shit. Years ago I bought a nickel bag of dirt from a young bul talkin weed out right out there in front the station. I was a youngin, it was like 2am, and i ain't realize the hustle til bul was long gone. Fun times. My layover then, as it is today, was about four hours. Only in Atlanta. There's an old black man asking me where is the restroom. I point while saying "over there" as he moves in a complete circle staying in the same place. I realize that maybe he can't see well so I ask him. "Can you see?" Still standing very close to me, he says quietly "No. Not really." Two brothas I had been chatting with just minutes before were moving away in the direction of their bus and I asked them to help direct him. My luggage is with me and my phone is charging at the charging station. I don't want to leave it. Preoccupied with missing their bus, they walk with him a few feet and let him go. I look up and see that he is still struggling so I grab my phone and leave the bag. I put my hand on his shoulder and we walk the rest of the way to the restroom. At the doorway I leave him after getting the nod from another man who then takes over as we both see him almost walk into the trash can at the center of the entrance to the bathroom. He good. There are enough of us here who give a fuck. There are arcade machines, those toy grabbing games, a snack shop, and so many different styles of people, mostly black and brown folks. I'm glad to see that payphones are still in use here. I love people.

Stories from the road #00

I'm on the greyhound bus. It's packed as normal. But at first it wasn't. Then we got to Mobile, Alabama, and things diversified. Bus driver is militant. He have zero tolerance for everything and we just yet pulling out the station for this road ahead. I guess he already anticipating disorderly behavior from the clientele who ride. I been riding greyhound since I was kid traveling with my family. Not because I want to either, but at this point i don't mind. It's kind of a choice. Once, I traveled by Chinese bus from nyc to Alabama. That was fucking nuts. Including the bus driver who maybe spoke little english being cussed out by a black woman with a baby as she was being let out for her stop in the middle of the night and on the side of a road somewhere in the South. Whoever put our luggage under the bus was too rough with her baby stroller and somehow when she arrived to her destination a wheel was missing, had broken off. Of course there was no customer service for her to call and make a complaint. This was the Chinese bus and tickets were dirt cheap. Cheap enough to keep you compliant and hoping for enough money to next time be on that greyhound where at least they have customer service. But that's funny too because greyhound customer service ain't worth shit. The Chinese bus driver comforted  himself from being cussed out by her by calling her "bitch" repeatedly as she made her way out of the bus and into night's darkness on the side of the road- the bus stop. My driver now is announcing his famous list of rules. Talking to us about enforcement and such. Stuff you would never hear on the plane. Nobody enforcing any rules there, just safety, peanuts, and drinks. But here we have the rule enforcer come to put us in check before we even out of order. Then again we already out of order because we traveling by bus for the cheapest route and a long ways from home. We pay in cash. And we get to choose our seats and see up close how our luggage is being handled. We also get to bring our own food and stare out on the open road as if we ourselves were driving it. We get to smoke at stops with strangers and listen in on random stories told at intervals along the way. The greyhound driver is yelling at these two Latina women with they babies. Rude. Babies to the back! As he grabs one of their bags, he uses his big body to rush them in the direction he wants them to go. Now we are moving fast down the road. Rushing by a man stopped on the highway tending his motorcycle as rain pours and pours and the skies go greyer. Rushing by the endless pine trees lining the road. The bus driver who demanded the women with babies to the back is now driving while yelling that they need to quiet the baby. "You must control your child! That's your job." as baby giggles happily. This is fucking insane. And the baby ain't even that loud. What the fuck you want her to put a muzzle over it? Damn. Black is way too serious. We switch drivers in Atlanta and Philly is a long way from there. I'm in my studies right now and quite sure there will be more stories to tell.