A Conspiracy of Cartographers?

Rosencrantz: I don’t believe in it anyway.
Guildenstern: What?
Rosencrantz: England.
Guildenstern: Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?

* * * * * *

Tonight, I hung up two maps on my wall : a map of the US a map of Europe. Why? I got really tired of having to use MapQuest to see where Valencia is compared to Brussels. It was nice that MapQuest tells me it is "1,702 km – about 15 hours 6 mins" from one to the other, but I need a visual. I need one that I can return to as often as I like, and I like having it on my wall.

I used to look at maps all the time; now i just look at my GPS device. (Which, by the way, it turns out has a Darth Vader voice!!! It scared the crap out of Robby, a nice drummer-boy, who rode home from SXSW with me. Imagine, Darth Vader telling you to "turn left in three hundred yards or you will enter the dark side." He really says it! Anyway....) Does anyone out there under 30 even own at atlas anymore?

I’m excited. I’m planning a tour. I’m going to travel and sing. I’m going to yodel in Switzerland and play the accordion in France. I’m going to rock in New York and twang in Nashville. I’m going to be political in DC and polemical in Boston. I don’t know why Boston should make me polemical; i just liked the rhythm of that sentence.

Should I come to you? Let me know where you are. Maybe you want to host a house concert. Maybe you have a favorite local band that I should share a bill with. Maybe you want to let me stay on your couch and take me to brunch in the morning. Maybe you own a really big company that wants to sponsor my tour and buy me a plane ticket to Paris. Really, I’d settle for the latter.

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