WV Day 6- Forests, Federal Resorts, and Fantastic Communities
My main objective for the day was to see the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs. It was about 3 hours away from my hostel and another 3 hours away from by the open mic I was planning on going too, so it was a nice big loop to do it.
Fortunately the length of the driving was more than made up for by how scenic the views were. I made sure to stop anytime there was a highway roadside promising a scenic overlook, which is a very fun little game to play in West Virginia if you're not too worried about getting places quickly.
I passed through a few National forests which were truly breathtaking partly because they were beautiful and partly because I am too out of shape for hiking. On the way to the Greenbrier, I drove through Mononghela National Forest and saw Seneca Rocks, an impressive craggily cliff.
I unintentionally had one of my least healthy lunches of the trip (which for me is saying something) as I stopped to get coffee in WHite Sulphur Springs at B Sweet Confectionary and their cupcakes looked far too amazing not too eat. I got a got a chocolate cupcake with a butter cream glazed in chocolate ganche on top. It was very affordable decadence, and they had a self-serve coffee bar which was quite good as well. The staff was really friendly as well and I ended up staying and chatting for a bit about traveling. It was one of of my most pleasant random finds!
The Greenbrier was easily worth the trip. The architecture of the resort and the natural beauty of the surrounding areas were just stunning. I've never seen opulence like this. I'd heard the term mansion before but I felt like not even in Newport did I get a real scope of what the word could mean. They were also pretty cool with me just strolling around and getting a look at the place even though I wasn't a guest which I thought was pretty neat. There is a a lot of history there with memorabilia from famous guests ranging from movie stars and athletes to former presidents. Everything was decked out in Christmas decorations already as well, so the whole place was festive and shiny which just added to the extravagance. The coolest part of the whole place though was the giant bunker that was designed to house Congress in the case of a nuclear war during the Eisenhower administration.
On the way from the Greenbrier to the Open Mic, I drove through the George Washington and Jefferson state forests, which are shared in joint custody between Kentucky Virginia, and West Virginny. They were also lovely, but unfortunately I had to keep moving to make it to the mic on time so I didn't really get any pictures.
The Mic was at a place called the River House in Capon Bridge. The 100 year old building had been renovated as a community effort and turned into a cafe and performance space. It was very cozy and welcoming, and I made it to the mic just in time. It was an all performers welcome mic, but far and away the most diverse mic of that variety I've seen so far in every sense of the word. There were poets, singers, bands, and me, as the lone comedian (though a number of the songs were pretty funny). The variety of music was also pretty all over the map in a fun way. One guy named Drew Aclin did acoustic covers of very non-traditional acoustic songs by artists ranging from Nirvana to Kanye West, a bluegrass band called Hay Fever played a set of songs that made it impossible not to tap your toes along with the music, and a guy named Thomas, who is originally from Jamaica closed out the show with a set of reggae and ska songs. If you'd told me ahead of time that I'd hear authentic Jamaican reggae in a coffee house in West Virginia, I don't think I ever would have believed you. Perhaps the thing that I was happiest to see was that the mic even welcomed two performers with developmental disabilities. One guy was part of a duo, which I'll talk about in a moment, but the other guy named Tim played the surf-rock classic Wipeout on bongos, and was genuinely phenomenal. I honestly got a little teary eyed, because I started to miss my cousin and all the other kids with with disabilities I've spent years working with, and it made me so happy to see these guys talents nurtured and supported rather than overlooked. I knew from that moment that this was really a special community, that I felt lucky to be a small part of.
My favorite performance of the night was by a traveling duo called Gorilla Bob and the Champ. Gorilla Bob sang and played original songs, while the Champ, an older guy with Down Syndrome, backed him up on auxiliary percussion and flexed his muscles at the end of every song. They were really something to see. Gorilla Bob (Bob Kearns) is a great songwriter, with a real sense of humor and humanity to his songs, and the Champ was just a natural born showman. I was sitting right in front of the champ during their set so I got to see all the little reactions to different song lyrics that he had carefully choreographed such as covering his mouth in mock-scandal when Bob said the word underwear at one point. He also legitimately had a great sense of rhythm. I got to chat with them both afterwards and you couldn't meet a nicer pair of guys. Bob also happened to know a ton about comedy, and guessed right away that I would be a fan of Norm Macdonald and Mike Birbiglia based on my own delivery and style. He's very much correct, but those two guys are definitely more in the comic's comic stage at the moment so I was pleasantly surprised that he knew them both let alone saw their influences on me.
My set did go really well tonight too which was a great feeling. I got to do as much time as the musicians, so this was the first time that I'd ever even attempted to do more than five minutes of totally clean material (there were some very young kids in the front row). When I say clean too, I also mean I cut out any content that I think even has any potential to offend so I also don't do anything with a political lean as well as more clearly dirty stuff. Because I'd never done that much clean time before, the first five minutes I'd done before were definitely the strongest part, and most of the stuff I tried after that was either brand new or something I'd only rally done once before. Much to my surprise just about everything landed. The transitions between and phrasings of the newer jokes and stories were far from perfect, but after the first five minutes went well I was loosened up and confident enough to be able to riff a little with the audience and I think I did a pretty good job saving any moment where I had a lot of potential to stumble. This left me feeling really good, and maybe with some more writing and practice some of those newer bits could get tossed into the old repertoire.
It was a really great night all around, and I realized I didn't even mention the cooking! I had ham and cheese on a biscuit (which they put just a touch of local honey on!) and it was immaculate. I also had a beer and a coffee and was not disappointed by either. After Thanksgiving, the next open mic they'll be doing will feature a mustache competition. I cannot recommend the River House enough.
Favorite Random Sightings: Dolly Sods; Clips and Curls; Smoke Hole Resort: Largest Christmas Shop in WV! (I never would have expected to see those words together in that order)
Regional Observation: You definitely wanna use your high beams at night when you can. The roads and the deer are both fairly unpredictable.
Albums Listened To: Honky Tonk Heroes by Waylon Jennings (I thought I didn't like country for so long, but this is one of my favorite albums now. I highly recommend Mike Judge's new show that's just stories about the outlaws of country music. The two-part Waylon episode is a real hoot); ...Honor is All We Know by Rancid: Hooligans United: A Tribute to Rancid by Various Artists ( 50+ Rancid covers in a wide variety styles from bands all over the world, really shows the diverse influence of Olympia's little punk band that could); Hot Rats by Frank Zappa (up their for my favorite Zappa record); Hotel Double Tragedy by The Happy Jawbone Family Band (Just No More Smoking Pot in the Bathroom); How it Goes by Big D & the Kids Table; How to Clean Everything by Propagandhi (a righteously angry punk debut from one of Canada's finest. They're a band that really puts their money where their mouth is and does a lot of charity work); How You Sell Soul to A Soulless People by Public Enemy (Just Harder Than You Think); Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful by the Lovin' Spoonful (probably their best album in my humble opinion)
People's Favorite Jokes:
"My son always tells me some, but I don't listen to him"
What's the difference between boogers and broccoli? Kids don't like eating broccoli
These next few two little kids (possibly inspired by me) got up and said at the open mic which was pretty darn cute:
Who cleans the ocean? The mer-maid
Why did Cameron throw the clock out the window? He heard time flies
What did the painter do when it got cold? Put on a second coat
What's a chicken's worst day of the week? Fry-day
Where can you surf in the kitchen? The micro-wave
Songs of the day (quite different):
"The devil made me do it the first time, the second time I did it on my own."
Watch this and then keep in mind that the original album only had one guy playing every horn over a series of overdubs, which was basically unheard of on that level in 1969
