Degrees Of Seperation

"We need to talk to someone, who's not a sailor or frat boy, to see what's going on around here." Alex said to me. I was thinking pretty much the same thing. We were both visiting Charleston, SC for the first time.

Alex was right. Five minutes later we were drinking beers with Jake and another Alex. They had guided us to the Upperdeck bar. Jake said he'd been on "The Bus", the mobile venue that the band Neptune is playing on Thursday. He said he spent a few months in Oakland, and met John Benson the proprietor of the venue. Jake also knew what's yr. damage?, Greg, Nelson and Adam Wood's longtime band. I have played with them at least one time that I can remember.

The next night we were planning on going to the warehouse show where local noise maker's Small Pox were playing. We arrived around 11:30PM, the show was already over. We headed back to the Upperdeck, trying out a couple of other bars. Earlier we were drinking at a ghetto bar named Frankie's, $2 for 24 ounce High Life's. It wasn't a special deal.

After last call, Alex decided to go deep into the ghetto to get some more beer. Genna a young woman from the hostel had joined us. She said this is supposed to be the 7th most dangerous neighborhood in the country. Genna and I sat in the truck watching Alex interact with the locals inside. We wished we could hear, but we didn't make any effort to get closer. Alex exited giving a beer a piece to two guys walking around the convenience store. Then it became apparent that a middle aged black man was hassling Alex for a beer. He said he would take one of our bags that were in the back of the truck if Alex didn't give him a beer. He warned Alex that he is not in his element. Alex told him to fuck off or something like that. The guy persisted. Alex then sternly said, "Mr. Greene could you step out of the truck." I got out and stood on the other side of the truck. The guy seemed pretty intimidated. He left saying something like I'm kidding. We ended up back at the hostel sitting on the porch until around 3:30AM drinking beers with some girl who said she couldn't get a room. She seemed a little sketchy. Alex said she looked pregnant.

The next morning we went to Rutledge's Coffee House for breakfast. Then we met up with the guy who sold Alex a conveyor dryer for his screen print shop. Alex found him on Craigslist. The guy told us plenty of stories. He had several creative revenge stories. He told us a guy tried to screw him over and wouldn't pay him, so he hired a private investigator to follow him. It turned out the investigated guy was sleeping with three other women other than his wife, one was a prostitute. Our guy sent photos to his wife, she filed for divorce. Then our guy placed an ad on craigslist under man seeking man. It said something like happily married guy who likes occasional cock. Our guy had the ad directed to his phone, so he could field the phone calls. A guy responded. Our guy told him, one of my fantasies is to have someone show up at my place of business and pull their cock out. The respondee said that he had always fantasized about doing that very same thing. Our guy told him to show up Friday at 2PM when all the employees are out cashing their checks. Friday the guy whipped his dick out as scheduled. When the whole thing went to court, the guy told the judge about the a guy whipping his dick out at his place of business, under the guidance of our guy. The judge said that sounds a little far fetched. Our guy won the case. They still live two blocks away from each other in a gated community.