So I'm in Austin!

[Tim Armstrong]

Totally worn out from the trip, gonna go to bed early (which is a shame, because there's an insane number of great shows tonight!). I'll be calling a few of you who've sent me phone numbers...

Now to get some rest, as I have a whole week here!



Cheers, Tim

[Lost_N_Austin]

I'm headed to the Continental Club to see the "Battle of the Bands"???

Redd's website says Redd is playing at 3.30 pm and the Continental Club Website and the Austin Chronical ad say that Adam Aherns is playing at the same time.
http://www.continentalclub.com/Austin.html
I think Redd can take him.

[Paul in Colorado]

So what 'cha doin' in Austin, Timmy? Drivin' a charter bus for for the Opry All Stars?

[Tim Armstrong]

I drove my boss and his family to a wedding in Tyler, TX. 22 hours in a Class A motorhome. Said boss, the only other licenced driver for a rig that big, appears to have narcolepsy.

So I drove a whole lotta miles, then spent 8 hours on Greyhound getting here, and now I feel like I might be coming down with the flu. Which sucks!

I have a lot of music I want to see, and people, too...

Tim

[chickshannon]

Tim, what you need is drink and some cheerful English company !! Never mind linking up to hear music with more bloomin' Americans ! Fly me and the missus over from the UK and we'll buy you a beer ! Perhaps even two or three. We're good like that.
( Waiting by the computer now for flight details).......................................... ...............
.................................................. ..................................................
.................................................. .( still waiting Tim).........................

Have fun
Chick and The Lovely Helen

( Got the passports and everything. Bags packed...the lot )

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Well, I'll be free tomorrow evening, Tim.

[e-merlin]

How do I get a job like yours? I have a Class A CDL.

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by e-merlin

How do I get a job like yours? I have a Class A CDL.

Trust me, you don't want my job!!! I'm a bus driver for an outfit that runs charter coach buses AND school buses. I was hired as a coach driver, but about two months ago half their school bus drivers quit, and guess who's been picking up the slack? Not as much money (no tips!), screaming kids, gotta get up at 5 am every day...

I got this trip ONLY because my boss and his family needed a dependable driver, and he and I get along better than he does with the other guys (I'm the same age as he, the other guys are mostly much older). Then, after we left, I discovered that he has narcolepsy (not that he'll admit it), and can't stay awake behind the wheel for more than, oh, two hours...

I ended up driving 14 hours, sleeping for 6, then driving for 8 more hours (much of it in bad weather), then riding a Greyhound 8 hours to get here.

I gotta say, though, that Austin is amazing!

Cheers, Tim

[Paul in Colorado]

Go get yourself some Emergen-C and do it every six hours. Then go eat some HOT Mexican food. You'll be fine. If you run into Pam Stutzman, tell her hello for me.



(No, she's not someone you know, just an old High School friend who lives there now.)

[JamonHamon]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

Trust me, you don't want my job!!! I'm a bus driver for an outfit that runs charter coach buses AND school buses. I was hired as a coach driver, but about two months ago half their school bus drivers quit, and guess who's been picking up the slack? Not as much money (no tips!), screaming kids, gotta get up at 5 am every day...

I got this trip ONLY because my boss and his family needed a dependable driver, and he and I get along better than he does with the other guys (I'm the same age as he, the other guys are mostly much older). Then, after we left, I discovered that he has narcolepsy (not that he'll admit it), and can't stay awake behind the wheel for more than, oh, two hours...

I ended up driving 14 hours, sleeping for 6, then driving for 8 more hours (much of it in bad weather), then riding a Greyhound 8 hours to get here.

I gotta say, though, that Austin is amazing!

Cheers, Tim

Hi Tim

I'm a School Bus Driver in Los Angeles area we make good money $20 to $30 per hour but the stress is very high!!!...

[Jelly]

Originally Posted by Paul in Colorado

Go get yourself some Emergen-C and do it every six hours.

Good advice on the Vitamin C. Have you heard about ionized Zinc? A brand name is Cold-eeze - lozenges that you have to let dissolve slowly. The ionized Zinc molecules attach to virus cells due to opposite polarity, rendering them inert. If you take it regularly every two to four hours it really cuts the illness in half. But you have to take the C and the Zinc at least an hour away from each other, as the C destroys the Zinc.

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by JamonHamon

Hi Tim

I'm a School Bus Driver in Los Angeles area we make good money $20 to $30 per hour but the stress is very high!!!...

Dang, that's at least twice what they pay around here! No benefits here, either. I live in a place with a rural/small town mindset (despite the fact that Salisbury, Maryland, has grown tremendously over the last decade). They don't want to pay anybody a living wage, the training is a joke, and bus drivers have to put up with things like no rosters (hard to write up a disruptive kid if you don't know his name or have his parent's contact info). One of the routes I drive has 48 kids on the bus, with six three-and-four-year-old preK kids, and the rest all K-2nd grade. Yep, the oldest kid on the bus is 7 years old!

Truth is, I don't blame the old drivers for quitting, and I let my boss know I'm done with the school buses after Christmas.

Cheers, Tim

[e-merlin]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

Dang, that's at least twice what they pay around here! No benefits here, either. I live in a place with a rural/small town mindset (despite the fact that Salisbury, Maryland, has grown tremendously over the last decade). They don't want to pay anybody a living wage, the training is a joke, and bus drivers have to put up with things like no rosters (hard to write up a disruptive kid if you don't know his name or have his parent's contact info). One of the routes I drive has 48 kids on the bus, with six three-and-four-year-old preK kids, and the rest all K-2nd grade. Yep, the oldest kid on the bus is 7 years old!

Truth is, I don't blame the old drivers for quitting, and I let my boss know I'm done with the school buses after Christmas.

Cheers, Tim

Hey Tim, I drove school buses here for a couple of years. Here it's just about $10 an hour and 20 hours a week. I supplimented my bus driving income by selling guitars and guitar stuff before everyone started using eBay as a way to price their stuff. I couldn't buy anything cheap enough to make a bit of money after that...If the bus company paid more and offered full time with benefits, I'd probably still be there. they'd probably keep more drivers, too.

Anyhow, I recently upgraded my CDL to Class A and I'm going to get every endorsement I can when construction season is over in a couple of weeks. I'm trying to stay away from going OTR, but I might have to...

Enjoy Austin! And the drive back.

[Leon Grizzard]

Tim - You probably have a full schedule, but I will be at Atrz Rib House on South Lamar Tuesday evening at 8:00, butchering fiddle tunes in the weekly session of the Austin Old Time Fiddle Association. I'll buy a plate of 'que if you show, even if you're just on your way to the Broken Spoke. Or give me a call at the office 476 6640, if you want eat lunch.

[JamonHamon]

Yeah we make good money but the cost of living is very hi in the Los Angeles area my house payment is $1700 per month

But I have $200,000 equity and were selling in June and then moving to Austin Texas

[KBR]

We Pay $1,900 for a 2BR/2Bath apt in SF Bay Area, Near Stanford...hoping to bail soon.

KBR

[vic108]

Tim, sounds like you had a hell of a trip!
Hope you feel better soon!

[Rick S]

Originally Posted by JamonHamon

Yeah we make good money but the cost of living is very hi in the Los Angeles area my house payment is $1700 per month

But I have $200,000 equity and were selling in June and then moving to Austin Texas

There have been so many people doing this lately that folks around here joke about having a reverse Okie migration. Lots of folks cashing in their 2 bedroom west coast bungalow to pay cash for a luxury estate here. Some are retiring, some taking lower paying jobs and still coming out ahead.

That $200k will buy a very nice home in this part of the country. It's highly unlikely you would ever enjoy the appreciation like the hot spots though. For instance, I have a property that I bought in the mid 80's and it's just now coming close to doubling in value, so.......

[Tim Armstrong]

Leon, I'm gonna try to come out Tuesday night, can't pass up a plate of barbeque!

My Austin experience so far:

Went out to the County Line bbq restaurant on Saturday for lunch (recommended to me by James Pennebaker), and damn was that GOOD! Then met Lost N Austin and gtrjones at the Continental Club to see Redd Volkaert, and damn, that was REALLY GOOD! I called it an early night, medicated up and got into bed..

Today I drove down to New Braunfels to meet up with Dave W at Gruene Hall (the oldest dancehall in Texas) to see Ponty Bone, which was REALLY GOOD! Now I'm back in Austin, planning on see Redd again, and then catch my old bandmate Walter Tragert play at the Saxon Pub (haven't seen him since shortly after our band broke up in 1989).

Austin is mind-blowing. Just this week, I can catch shows by Joe Ely, The Deraillers, Redd (twice), Jim Lauderdale, The Pretenders (!), Exene Cervenka, Floyd Domino, Charlie Robison, Alejandro Escovedo, Bob Schneider, Jesse Dayton, James McMurtry, David Garza, Wayne "The Train" Hancock, Big Sandy and his Flyrite Boys, El Vez, Deke Dickerson, Alvin Crow, Rob Roy Parnell (Lee Roy's brother, I believe), Will Sexton, and a list of folks I haven't ever heard of that's ten times that long...

And the women, oh mercy, there are so damn many fine looking women (sure, lots of college girls, but lots of full-grown adult women, too) around here it's blowing my mind.

Of course, it isn't perfect. They have arguably the worst rush hour traffic that I've ever seen (and I've lived in DC and SoCal!). And it's not a cheap place to live, and with all those musicians, there ain't a lot of gig money...

But I definitely like it here! Maybe someday far down the road...

Cheers, Tim

[TDPRI]

Darn you Tim! You went to Gruene Hall today... and it's just 15 miles from my house. All you had to do was say you were going and I'd had been there for a little while at least.

Hope you have a good time in Austin. Don't miss Waterloo Records on Lamar at 6th Street. Its a must must must see.

Paul Green

[Tim Armstrong]

Aw heck, Paul, I sure should've! As I absolutely loved that place, I reckon I'll be back soon enough, and I promise to be in touch.

Cheers, Tim

[TDPRI]

By the way... don't think that this is what the weather is like around here. This is a "cold front". Like back home when the lakes freeze and there's a frost on the ground. Maybe some snow.

Well, this, 70 degree days and 50 degrees nights, is pretty much that.

We will have a couple of colder days when it's officially winter. Then, there was that day in Feb not all that long ago when it was over 100.

[mojocasterman]

Enjoy Austin for those of us who can't go there