2004-02-20

IMPORTANT NEW NOTES FROM JUSTIN:

I�ve been traveling for 189 days! After a few days with an old friend in Woodbridge, VA, today I will continue on to Washington, DC. Life is busy, as I am working very hard to find a management company to work with on the release of my album. And, my new web site: http://justinwinokur.com is very close to complete.

I�m converting the diary entries and photos of my travels into a book. I�m still collecting content, too. So, I�m looking for nice, fun people who can put me up for a few nights, host me, feed me, and show me their unique flavor of America. I�m looking forward to learning about your world and writing about our times together! If you think it might be fun to host me for a day or two or three, email me.

Please make sure to include your address and phone number in your email.

I am especially looking for places to stay anywhere on the East Coast north of Virginia.

Please contact me ASAP if you want to hang out!

If you believe in what I am doing and want to help support me, please do so! You can donate money to me using PayPal or with a credit card. Email me for more information! Make sure to check out my photo sales page!

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US Tour Day 159: Getting Stuff Done in Columbia, SC

I got a lot of work done today. I started by waking up early and calling a bunch of tour booking agencies in Sweden. I managed to even get some human beings on the phone. I told them about the record and how I had worked with Christoffer Lundquist. Being quite the famous producer these days, everyone knew who he was and seemed open to talking with me. More phone calls are required at this point, though. I left lots of messages on answering machines. I wonder if Swedish music industry people are as aloof and unlikely to return a phone call as people are here in the USA?

After my many phone calls I picked up some Qpcards for white balancing my photos.

Then, Melissa drove me over to Cafe Strudel where I'd performed the night before. An employee named Bill had seen my photographs and was very impressed. He suggested I meet with the owner and see about showing them there. The other art on their walls was great, so I was excited to pursue this path. While there I saw a flyer for a gallery two doors down that was looking for artists to display their works there for sale. I flipped a coin in my mind for which place I would approach first and ended up going with the gallery rather than the cafe.

Inside I met Patty Schafer, a long, lean hair stylist who ended up leasing a building far too large for what she wanted to do there. So, she decided to turn most of it into a gallery. She was excited about my pictures and seemed eager to sell them.

After chatting for a while she motioned towards my hair and said she wanted to clean up my edges. She proceeded to give me a free hair cut! She even made an exception to the rule of stylists that you should never teach a customer how to cut their hair themselves�she showed me how to cut the front of my hair so the bangs lie straight across my forehead.

While there she suggested that I peel off the flyer she had stuck to her mailbox outside. After seeing my pictures she thought I would appreciate the graffiti she had hidden under the piece of paper. There was a crude drawing of a blunt, thick penis and the words BLACK POWER written around it.

We agreed to meet again Monday to sign contracts and agree to final terms of sales.

I then walked a few doors down to Cafe Strudel to meet their owner, Marila. I didn't have time to stay and talk with her. Plus, she seemed busy with townspeople and friends who wanted her attention. She agreed to a meeting with me tomorrow at 11 AM and I skipped out to the street, excited about getting my art into two places in Columbia.

Normally it would be inappropriate to show work in two places which were basically right next to one another. But, an employee of Cafe Strudel had told me that my work wouldn't be able to get in there for at least four months even if it was accepted now. So, I figured I would put up some work in Purple Alley and then move it to Cafe Strudel after however long it takes.

I came back to the USC dorms and Melissa left me to go play tennis for a few hours.

The highlight of the day came as I returned from some errands. I had walked over to Kinko's to pick up a fax from my credit card merchant account company. After that I picked up some things from my car and walked back to the dorms. When I got to the dorm room I found a large note pinned to the door. It read "Justin, sorry for locking the door, but we had to have sex." There was a picture of a penis with a circle and a line through it. I thought it was very cute, and I sat in the hallway and filled out the form from my credit card company.

We ate dinner at a Korean place a few blocks from campus. The food was so spicy and familiar�it felt like home, the Asia away from Asia called the Bay Area.

Now I feel a little under the weather. I have a bit of what seems like a head cold. I think I just need to get some sleep.


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