So, since we all can agree that, to quote a very wise woman, live music is better live, I saw some the other night. Live music that is. A band by the name of Devil Makes Three (h/t to McG) was playing at venue about an hour from me called the Haw River Ballroom. Great place btw, in the dye room of an old cotton mill, and somewhere I’ll definitely keep on my watch list for future concerts. The concert was pretty great as both acts put out excellent vibes. The openers have, quite possibly, the longest name of any touring band – The Huntress and Holder of Hands – but they were really quite good. One of the songs that stuck with me, actually more than anything the headliners did, was a cover of a wonderful Cranberries song that kind of slid out of my memory. Just a really nice night.
Now the town this place is in is pretty small, about 1,600 people, and I’d never heard of Saxapahaw, NC before so I pulled it up when Mike first mentioned the band to me. Looked pretty simple to get to, a couple state highways and only a few turns. Piece of cake. However. Since I’m still pretty new out here, if I go anywhere other than Asheboro itself, I typically punch the address into a map app just to make sure I don’t miss a turn or something. I’ve always been pretty good with directions but why mess around, right? So I got in the car, typed in the destination and took a look before I headed east. I looked at the map and noticed right away it was different from what I had pictured in my head. Pretty much straight-line diagonal from my house to the venue and I thought from looking at the map that I would need to backtrack slightly to get there.
Now, if your history with Siri is anything like mine, you’d appreciate the sense of trepidation I felt right there. I thought I’d already shared my Siri-induced misadventure on my way out here, but I just checked and apparently I haven’t.
Yet.
I got around Winston-Salem and had been going Siri-less for several hours since I had been out this way a few times and was fairly confident I could find my way to the hotel in Asheboro. Until I caught a detour. Since I was driving and didn’t want to pull over (an obvious sign of weakness *snark*) I said to myself “I have a smartphone, I can just talk to Siri and she’ll give me directions to my hotel.”
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I received directions to a hotel in Lexington, KY. Several times. I also received directions to a Waffle House in Burlington, NC. More than once. I received directions to so many different places and never less than sixty miles from where I wanted to be. This, as you may imagine, displeased me. Especially so close to the end of 14 hour drive from northern Illinois. Fun fact. Did you know that launching a profanity-laced tirade at Siri will cause her to, not unlike an actual human being, shut down? She has a particular dislike for being called a word that rhymes with “brotherclucker” fwiw. I think Apple missed the boat in not pointing out that attribute. She’s so lifelike!
Needless to say, I finally pulled over and typed in the address to my hotel, arriving without further Siri-related incident about 45 minutes later.
So there was a brief hesitation as I left the house under Siri’s guidance. I drove through, what I assume was a pretty bucolic part of the state. And I’m not throwing stones with that, I mean after all I grew up in the Greater Burlington Metropolitan area (*more snark*) but since it was, you know, dark, I couldn’t really tell. Also the two-lane, curvy, country roads were not conducive to the wandering driving eye I picked up from riding in a car with my Dad during my formative years. All in know is, on the way home I saw, probably fewer than five cars, until I got back on the state highway about 30 miles later.
All in all it was an outstanding way to spend a Thursday evening. The next concert on the books isn’t until April, I’m gonna have to work on something before that.
Time to search the interwebz!
Peace.