Greetings from the District

What's going on, people of Atlanta? My apologies for such a belated response. As you may have heard from myself or my radio partner in crime, I hit the dusty road a bit early. Right now, I'm four weeks into my summer here in the nation's capital.

As much as I miss everyone back in Georgia (most especially you Crossroads fans of Album 88), I'm having the time of my life here. D.C. is a great city to be in...for more than a few days of sightseeing. There is so much do, yet so little time. Although it took me a while to get settled in, due to confusing housing arrangements, I think I'm doing just fine.

You may be wondering, "Why is Blind John Johnson in another city for 8 weeks? Atlanta is perfectly fine. Plus, you can't really see all the monuments and landmarks." Well, I don't want to bug everyone out with details and such, but long story short - I got accepted into this journalism program at The George Washington University. It's this large private school right smack dab in the middle (ok, so northwest, really) of D.C....situated fairly similar to Georgia State. It's a nice place, but damn, is it expensive. Talk about 10% tax.

Anyways, I'm taking a class on Washington journalism, doing lots of projects, meeting the big names in telecommunications, networking like crazy, AND interning at XM Satellite Radio. Let me tell you - working at such a rather new and innovative communications company is pretty sweet. From the hands-on experience, to the laid-back attitude, I do look forward to coming to my desk and working four days a week. The perks are sweet too. I think I'm going to go sweet talk my way into getting some good blues tunes from the good folks over at Bluesville (XM Channel 74, for you satellite radio listeners out there) to bring back to the ATL. And I can't wait for another live performance...although I've missed most of them so far. Foreigner came in the day before I started and I heard that was an awesome performance.

Well, I want to keep this one rather short and sweet, as compared to my other posts. I just wanted to write a lil' somethin' so all of ya'll would know that I'm still truckin' along. Shoeless has thrown a list of record stores my way to beef up my collection (now that I have a record player!) No luck so far...the downtown sector of Georgetown was a letdown.



Now, it's off to Adams Morgan, which by the way, has a sweet blues following, besides U Street. Actually, the first place I went to drink on my 21st birthday WAS a blues bar! Madams Organ (promotional billboard/sign/painting displayed above) was a rather pleasant beginning to my night. Three floors of good food, good music, and good drinks. I got carded and was greeted to the humbling sounds of a blues band playing "Sweet Home Alabama"...the band's name has escaped my mind, unfortunately. They had a gnarly looking bass player.


The District is the place to be - late nights on the rooftop, muggy afternoons walking around, and the hint of summer love in the air. But I guess the last one applies to anyone or anywhere, really. I'll be back in the Peach State on July 26th, and back in the station, doing my thing with Shoeless on the night/morning of the 29th. Get ready - I too have a few themed sets coming up - one that is based off of a public TV series...yeah.

Until we meet at the Crossroads,

Blind John Johnson