"Joy in the Life of Words"...

...is how our reading at the Southern Festival of Books here in Nashville this afternoon has been billed. In Davidson, NC we appeared as "Two Tall Poets." Hey, I'm just glad folks are showing up. You can call us whatever you like.

Been in Nashville since late Friday night. We drove from Davidson in solid rain, through the Appalachians--gorgeous, fog rising off the trees. Stopped and got some apples and hoop cheese[*] at a place just before we crossed the TN state line. We detoured through Pigeon Forge, TN, of Dollywood fame (and Louise Mandrell's Theater) where we stopped at Huck Finn's Restaurant for all-we-could-eat catfish[*], chicken[*] & sides. Yum. "Can I get you some more chicken or fish, baby?" asked Sheila the waitress, pretty much singing it like a twangy old song. Huck Finn's is the restaurant the Cracker Barrel wishes it were. The guitar player was pretty good too, though I preferred the old stuff and the rest of the dining room seemed to like the contemporary covers.



Yesterday we had some barbecue[*] at Jack's downtown. We tried to go to Arnold's but they were closed--maybe today. We also hit Hatch Show Print--amazing letterpress and art printing of show posters, tee shirts, postcards, etc. They have a shop online too: right here. Hoping to meet fellow bloggers A. D. Thomas and Jilly Dybka at the festival later.

The first hotel we had here in Nashville, a cheapy deal, turned out to be a little too cheapy deal. YUCK. And I was almost eaten by a pitbull in the parking lot of the liquor store on Dickerson. So we moved over the Hotel Preston, a giant improvement, and we're moving over to the Millennium Maxwell house this afternoon, where Watkins College of Art & Design has been generous enough to get us a swanky room. We're doing a q&a and reading at Watkins tomorrow. Then we're off again Tuesday morning for the nation's capital to see Maureen, Sandra, Carly, and maybe hopefully Reb & Deborah for the last stop on this leg.

Also--we just added Normal, IL to the second leg, for Monday, October 24. Details to come. (Thanks, Gabe!)

*[This post has been modified because I have since gone vegan. If I can do it after formerly eating like this, anyone can. Wow.]