VA Day 5- Houses of Presidents, House Specialties, and House Parties
Today I started out by driving to Charlottesville. It's a nice, big college town, and you'd never guess all that trouble went down only a few short months ago. I started out by getting getting coffee at Shenandoah Joe, partly because they were highly recommended and partly because their motto is "It's all about the Joe" which I've decided is my new mantra. I got a coldbrew and dried cherry scone, a breakfast I refer to as Scone Cold Steve Austen. The coffee was good, but the scone was really incredible.
From there I went to Monticello to get a tour of Thomas Jefferson's house. The grounds were absolutely massive, and it was a beautifully maintained and restored piece of architecture. I had some time before my tour started, so I walked around the grounds and saw the Jefferson's vegetable gardens and the slave quarters. I thought it was good that the museum acknowledged the slavery that happened that and didn't try to sugar coat how awful it was. My tour guide even made a point to stress that not acknowledging slavery as an evil is exactly what allowed it to continue for so long.
The tour of the house was really well done. Our tour guide was just a big lovable history dork, who really knew his stuff. One of the things I liked learning about most was Jefferson's love of scientific inventions and how many random arbitrary things he had around the house just because he liked that they could be made, such as a special contraption that could be used to unlock his bedroom door from bed.
My favorite thing to learn more about though was Jefferson's friendship, feud, and reconciliation with John Adams. Apparently when they were running against each other for president, things got so dirty that at one point newspapers started running stories about Adams being a hermaphrodite. We talk about politics being overly sleazy now, but it seems like things have always been down in the mud. Eventually they did make up and become friends again, and in one of the most stunning coincidences in American history they both died a few hours apart from one another on the 50th anniversary of Independence Day. Jefferson also had a bust of Adams staring at his bed so it was practically the first thing he saw every morning and the last thing he saw every night. Kind of an intense bromance.
I'm also very happy that the museum at no point overly romanticized the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. I think some people like to think of their dynamic as a forbidden love type deal, but even if they truly loved each other, she was technically property and he was her owner which is a horrible power dynamic. I think especially in today's climate of really exploring the way power dynamics affect consent, it's good not to paint super romantic portrait of a slave master having an affair with a slave.
Perhaps the most amazing part of all was this only known actual authentic photograph of Thomas Jefferson:
For dinner, I started to head back Richmond where the night's show would be. I got dinner at a restaurant called Black Sheep which was just incredible. Their dinner speciality is sandwiches on baguettes, but if you don't order a half sandwich they give you an entire full sized baguette which I don't know how anybody could finish it. The sandwiches looked amazing, but I was too enticed by the biscuits and gravy. It came with shrimp, pork, eggs and a lightly fried catfish finger. It was a veritable feast, packed with flavor and very reasonably priced.
After dinner, I still had some time to kill before the comedy show so I walked around the Carytown neighborhood of Richmond which was filled with lots of bars, shops, and restaurants. I got some amazing Ice Cream at Bev's Homemade Ice Cream.I got a chocolate and cherry ice cream, with their homemade hot fudge. I don't normally get toppings, but I read online that the hot fudge was a must try and it truly was. It was just so thick and creamy, it was almost more like those hard chocolate shells than like the more liquid-y hot fudges you normally get. I loved it.
I walked around the shops while I ate my ice cream. I went to Planet 9 records and picked up new albums by Mavis Staples and the late Sharon Jones. It was a good Friday for soul music. The cashier was shocked that I was eating ice cream though in this weather. I hadn't even registered that it was kind of cold out though, but I guess I'm used to much worse. After that I just hung out at Cartytown Cupcakes, drank coffee, and wrote until it was time for the show.
The show was so freaking cool. It was at a house party hosted by Liz Carrnage, who hosted the coffee shop open mic I went to on Tuesday. She's a great comic, and an even better host, opening up her home and creating such a fun welcoming environment.
The showcase was her hosting, me, and six other comics, and it was one of the most consistently strong shows I've gotten to be a part of it. Because it was a showcase and not a mic, everyone real felt professional so rather than single any one out, I'll give my personal favorite bits from everyone's set.
Liz- "I'm working on a new song, called 'If you're bi-polar and you know it, curl up into a ball'"
Torrey Huggins - Told an extended really funny story sleeping with an older white woman he met when she came in as client at the massage place he works at. He gave one of the funniest colorful ways of describing large breasts I've heard in a long while: "She had some Bette Midler, Hocus Pocus titties"
Hedi Sandburg - "I'm tall and sometimes people ask really dumb questions like, 'Hedi, how did you get so tall?' *pause for the stupidity of that sentence to sit in* And you can't just say my two tall parents fucked."
Laure Tutson- "I've been thinking about having a kid recently. I just really need a new social security number"
Lamont "Ferg" Ferguson - "How come every city has a First Baptist Church? They can't all be first."
Trish Blaine- "I worked at an animal shelter, and you wouldn't believe the things we saw. I found a pregnancy test and a cell phone in the same dog. It was negative, thank god. She is NOT ready for kids"
Danny Rolando - "The new health care bill wants to get rid of pre-existing conditions. Do you realize how crazy that is? That's like a restaurant denying you service for already being hungry. 'This restaurant is for people who got hungry here!'"
Everyone brought their own unique voice and style, but across the board they were so smart and funny. I'm glad I went first for the night or I would have been super intimidated being surrounded by such talented comics. I got to do a solid 7-10 minute sketch and I think I was a good opener, getting solid laughs and setting a good light, hearted silly tone for the night to come. I felt totally welcomed, and the best part was that it was a house party so after the show finished at around 11 all the comics just kinda hung out and drank for a bit, and it was just an absolute blast.
Favorite Random Sightings: DVDs on the Run (I can't imagine anyone needs this); Kool Smilez; "We sell ice and bread!"; a shop called Mongrel; "Used books not Used egg rolls"
Regional Observation: I haven't really gotten to go to many breweries but the craft beer scene in Virginia is booming
Albums Listened To: Inside Llewyn Davis Soundtrack by Various Artists (Oscar Isaac is so talented); International Superhits! by Green Day (just She, I really don't like them that much as a band but She's a good song); The Interrupters by the Interrupters; Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening by Aziz Ansari (This blew me away when I first heard it, it's still pretty solid now but definitely a first album); Into the Purple Valley by Ry Cooder; If All I Was Was Black by Mavis Staples (out of alphabetical order because it just came out)
People's Favorite Jokes:
What do you call a bunch of hippies at a music festival? Fucking intense (In tents)
Song of the Day:
Goddamn for someone in her 70s she still has a lot to say and a hell of a voice to say it with
