going back to athens...

i've only been back to athens, ga once. after leaving her for good in 2000 and making tracks for nevada and then california, i did accompany a friend on a drive from los angeles, ca to northampton, ma. we spent the night with the man who became "Sil" in 'A Selfish Man' and pressed on in the early am toward new york city. this was two weeks after the world trade center crimes and getting onto manhattan island at 2am was a struggle...but that's another story altogether...

so it's been almost eight years since i've walked the streets i wrote about in 'A Selfish Man'. the aforementioned visit took place almost three years before i finished 'A Selfish Man' and it was published. master Sil is tying the knot and i'll be flying out to witness and imbibe in celebration. i have been warned that much has changed and that i will either be pleasantly surprised or horrified.

in years past, i made a special point of re-visiting old haunts because i am addicted to the nostalgia of "difference" that naturally arises with the passage of time (which reminds me i need to do some traveling deep into texas and utah since it's been a decade give or take since i've seen either). as i became tethered to los angeles through music and emotion i have been landlocked so to speak and have felt the pinch of familiarity and all it's caustic side effects. i admit being borderline ecstatic about returning and walking the streets, a 'finnegan's wake' re-enactment, american-style. 'Marciano's' is now gone, i believe the 'engine room' is now gone and i imagine most of the cast and characters of 'A Selfish Man' have faded into history (miss 'ya Cedric!) but i know that the essence of athens will remain intact...at least for yours truly.