otis gibbs

I was in a car accident after playing a memorial show for Utah Phillips in Chicago last week. It was 1:30 a.m. and I was sitting at a stoplight. I sat there for fifteen seconds or so and BAM! I was rear ended and pushed out into the middle of an intersection. I was pretty dazed so I sat there for a few seconds. My glasses were thrown off of my face and I couldn’t find them (they were later found in the back seat). After a half minute or so I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a blurry white car backing up. The car went around my left side and drove off up ahead of me. I squinted and strained trying to see their license plate, but I couldn’t make it out. I’m blind as a bat without my glasses. As they drove by I heard a voice shouting at me out the window. It said “GET THAT BROKE F*CKER OFF THE ROAD, BITCH!” It wasn’t one of humanity’s finest moments.

I called 911 and waited at least a minute or more for someone to pick up the phone (Chuck D was right, 911 is a joke). It took the cops an hour and ten minutes to get to the scene. When they arrived they didn’t even get out of the car. They told me to drive to a police station and fill out a report. I told them that I was from out of state and I had no idea where the closest police station was. They told me that there isn’t a chance in hell of ever catching the person that fled the scene and that I shouldn’t even report it unless I wanted to report a claim to my insurance company. Then they drove off. It was 3:30 am in Chicago. I got in my car and drove to Michigan.

My back and neck hurt like hell for the next few days. I’m feeling fine a week later. My rear passenger side door on my car no longer opens and the rear end looks like hell.

Billy Bragg was nice enough to give me a shout out in the Wall Street Journal this weekend. I’m not sure that I deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan, The Clash, Chuck Berry and Sam Cooke, but I’m happy to take what I can get.
Thank you Billy!

Click here to read the Wall Street Journal article.

The good people at the Indianapolis Star (Dave Lindquist)recently did a story about some Indianapolis guitar heroes. One of the people featured in this story is John Byrne. John played steel guitar and electric guitar on “One Day Our whispers.” If you enjoyed that record you should read the story and watch the video because john was a big part of that record. Click here to read the story!

I’m friends with some of the other fellas and they are monster players!

I’ve become obsessed with reading through the jobs section of craiglist. It’s amazing what employers expect workers to do for so little money. This is a perfect example. After reading the listing I felt compelled to email the guy and find out more about the job.

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transporting human remains
Reply to: job-653035116@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-04-23, 8:21AM

Applicants must live in the Madison/Inglewood area or around these areas. Please don’t email about this if you live outside Davidson County. Our response time is crucial. Drivers will be loading and transporting human remains. Must be over 21 yrs of age due to insurance restrictions, able to lift 150+ pounds, valid drivers license and clean driving record. Drivers needed are for days or nights. Weekend work also available. Pay varies…drivers paid per call. If interested, email me with your name and number. Will get back to you as quick as I can. Thank you for your patience.

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Hello-
I live in East Nashville and am interested in this job. Give me a call and I’ll tell you more about myself and you can tell me more about the job.
Thank you kindly
-Otis

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This job isn’t for everyone.? We go on crime scenes and house calls. We are responsible for placing the body in the body bag and transporting to the Medical Examiner?or Funeral home.? This job does require someone that can lift 150+ lbs.??Most calls you will have another person helping you.? I am needing someone that can be on call for 24hrs and can go when called.? Time off is fine as long as we have?enough notice.? We provide the van that you will need for transporting.? You are paid per call and most calls don’t go over an hour.? We do have a dress code that has to be followed – no blue jeans or?t-shirts.
?
Thanks

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I’m still interested and I understand why this might not be for everyone. You say that the pay varies, does this mean that some calls pay more than others or does this simply mean that some weeks you get more calls than others? How does the payroll work and what does the job pay? What’s the lowest amount I should expect to be payed per call and what is the highest amount.
Thank ya kindly
-Otis

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Pay depends on how many calls you go on that week. In town (local) calls pay $12.50 for first hr then after that it goes over that first hr, pay moves to $8.00/hr…out of town calls pay $8.00/hr. Calls are based on how many deaths there are for the companies we contract with. Some weeks may be very busy, some may be slow. It comes and goes. Most of the guys now avg. $200-$400/wk – this is based on the number of calls that you want. Sometimes you may be where you can’t go (eating dinner, etc.) so you can’t take it. The more calls you take, the more money you make. Smile You are paid by check on Fridays we provide van and all needed supplies including gas for van. If still interested, let me know and I will get your number to the owner.

Thanks again.
Dennis

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Thanks for sending that but in all honesty I was expecting this to pay better. If I understand correctly, I can expect to get a call at 3am, get out of bed and go load a dead body? Since most calls take an hour I can expect to make $12.50 for that? I’m truly not trying to be difficult but that’s a lot to ask of someone for so little return. If I’m misunderstanding something please let me know.
Thank you for your time.
-Otis

Hello friends-
File this in the better late than never category. I learned a few things while touring the UK. Blood Pudding is nothing that a Hoosier needs to partake in, Crumpets are everything that this man needs when he can’t find a biscuit, The Clash played their first gig at The Boardwalk in Sheffield and Americans have no business driving in England! Now on with the photos!

Angel of the North -just outside of Newcastle Upon Tyne

Statues -where The Tyne meets the North Sea

Scottish border -We hit a snow storm in Scotland that was no fun to drive through. did i mention that Americans should not be allowed to drive in the UK? I can’t describe how cold we were standing there taking this photo. The wind was relentless. It felt like we were being mugged by a gang of snowmen.

More fun in the snow!

It was a great gig in Glasgow!

Freezing my ass off at Stonhenge.

My best buddy Todd with a shameless product endorsement.

I can’t remember where this was taken but i think it was outside of Sheffield.

This is the photo that ended a long friendship. Todd was cussing and complaining about driving in the fog and on the opposite side of the road when he would rather be taking photos. I was leaning out the window when i took this not so great photo. He hasn’t talked to me since.

The Cluny in Newcastle is about as good a gig as a fella could ask for. These are some of the nicest folks and they genuinely love music. What more could you want?

Avebury Ring -This is older than Stonehenge and well worth the drive.

London -We knew it was going to be a good gig when we walked in and saw the Freddy Fender backdrop. This was the rowdiest gig and there were a lot of people singing along to “The Peoples Day.” Good times!

London Swan

Todd in a London subway -I joke about my buddy Todd because he’s a good sport but he’s also a wonderful photographer. Please go visit his photography page by CLICKING HERE and tell him that I said that he’s an asshole!

Protester in London -Although we agreed with most everything that this lady was saying, she was by far the most annoying person I’ve come across in a while. We walked up to her to say hello and she never shut up for the next hour. Literally! I marched in protest to the war before it started with a half a million people in Prague, a few hundred thousand in Vienna and with 18 people in Indianapolis but that lady stole one hour of my life that I’ll never get back. Preaching to the converted or anyone else might be fun on the pulpit but it’s a little tiring in the audience.

My new best friend in London

I’m a long way from Wanamaker.

Chicken coop outside of Gloucester.

Rainbows along the roadside.

The Musician in West Leicester.

I did some shows with Sam Baker on this trip. Sam is a great songwriter and a beautiful man. I strongly urge you to do yourself a favor and listen to sams music by by CLICKING HERE. I recommend “Odessa.” It has a long intro before it gets to the song so be patient. (recommended if you like Townes Van Zandt, Leonard cohen, Tom Waits etc.)

I apologize to the people and the towns that I don’t have photos for. We had very little down time on this trip and the photography suffered because of it. I’ll try to make up for it on the next tour.
Thanks for giving a damn!
-Otis

i was fortunate enough to be invited to tour with the bottle rockets last fall. we did a stretch of dates in the northeastern united states at the end of last year and then a couple weeks in february through the southeast. here are some somewhat random photos of my travels.

this is a boiled peanut stand somewhere in south carolina. i survived on
nothing but boiled peanuts for nine days in a row and i returned a better man
because of it.

chicken reflection -yeehaw junction, florida

bait shop outside of athens, georgia

lincoln memorial -washington, dc

bleachers in arlington cemetery -arlington, va

store wall detail -somewhere in rural georgia

these last three photos were all taken by my buddy todd fox. please click on this link to see more of his photos. he is featured in the current issue of black and white fine art photography magazine. needless to say i’m very happy for him.

me onstage with the bottle rockets in macon, georgia.

hanging backstage with mark and brian of the bottle rockets in charlottesville, va.

onstage in lake worth, florida.

thanks to all of you who came out to the shows and thanks to the bottle rockets for inviting me to tour with them. i have quite a few photos from these dates so i may post a part two photo blog if there is enough interest.

feel free to subscribe to this blog thingy!

in early spring of this year a friend of ours in austin, texas (laura thomas) asked if i’d be interested in playing at a homeless shelter in austin during south by southwest. we said yes. she asked us to pick between two days and we said that it didn’t matter to us. she said that she needed us to decide so….we flipped a coin and chose friday. she then informed us that we would be playing at the homeless shelter with billy bragg! billy and i ended up having a great conversation and he enjoyed my set so much that he asked me if i’d be interested in doing some shows with him. i was more than happy to take him up on his offer.

me and billy at caritas soup kitchen in austin, texas.

billy at the alladin theater in portland, oregon.

i didn’t have much spare time to take photographs but i did manage to take a few. here are some random images.

salmon ladder in seattle, washington.

fishermen in fog seattle, washington.

i have no idea what this game is called or how to play it but i really enjoyed watching the old men sit around playing it. two men would play while a dozen or so would stand around cheering and laughing (most likely trash talking). i watched for two hours or so. san francisco, california.

i’m not sure whose grave this is but i found it to be interesting. hollywood, california.

grant, mushi, billy, vaughn and andy. billy is blessed with some wonderful folks around him. there was no shortage of laughs back stage!

if you have any photos of the shows please feel free to post them here.

war mother.

he said that his name is jack marvin and that he is lee marvins cousin. i don’t know if it’s true but i do know that he was the most cantanquerous person i’ve met in quite a while. he served in three wars and didn’t like to talk about it. he spends most of his time sitting on a park bench in san antonio whistling at girls passing by.

this might be the smartest bird i’ve ever seen. it was waiting for cars to pull of the highway and park in the lot across the street from the alamo. after the people left it would swoop down and eat dead insects off the grill of the car. pretty damn bright for a bird!

derrick frazier was executed two days after this photo was taken.

self portrait in a funhouse mirror.

carls corner truck stop.

these last few photos are of the residents and sights of luchenbach, texas.

i had the good fortune of spending all of august in austin. i spent most of my days wandering the countryside with my camera and most of my nights on a barstool. here are some photos of some of the people i met and some of the things that i experienced.

i want to send out a special thank you to my friends cameron and jenn for letting me stay with them at their place in austin.

i have quite a few more photos from texas that i’ll be happy to post if anyone is interested in seeing them. thanks for allowing me to share these with you.

i was sitting on a barstool last week at a bar in bastrop, texas. i was asking some fellas if there were any ghost towns near by and after a short while the conversation finally came around to someone mentioning mcmahan, texas. it’s a tiny town that’s been all but abandoned. it’s been around for about a hundred years. the population peaked in the 1960s at 250 people and it’s been on a steady decline ever since. a local rancher started buying buildings as they became available in hopes of preserving the town. he’s now the owner of what’s left of the town and he’s trying to sell it.something about this whole story struck a nerve so i decide to drive out to see it for myself.

after spending about an hour chatting with a fella that runs the local BBQ
joint i started thinking that i might be interested in owning my own town. i checked into it and you can buy the whole town for 215 grand. to tell the truth i think that it might be a little bit overpriced but i’m still interested.

i told amy about it thinking that she would send me to a psychiatrist but she was more interested than i was. who knew?

i like the idea of being boss hog and owning a whole town. we could set up speed traps and live off of the money i get from speeding tickets. i could become a cult leader and set up a compound where everyone would worship gillian welch as the one true savior. we could build the worlds greatest roadside attraction featuring the worlds largest statue of harry dean stanton that would lure weary travelers to us from all over the world. we could open up an artist colony where we could house artist that needed somewhere to create without the distractions of everyday madness. there are way too many options to keep up with. i like the idea of just moving out into the middle of nowhere and just telling the world to kiss our asses.

i’m doubting that we’ll go through with it but who knows. i’ve done dumber things!

thanks to everyone who helped make my trip as wonderful as it was. we made
a ton of new friends and were treated like long lost family members.

the strange looking building on the right is the venue that i was fortunate enough to play. it’s called the “sage gateshead” and it’s an amazing facility. i opened for guy clark and played to a sold out crowd.

the tyne bridge. newcastle and gateshead are seperated by the tyne river.

view of the tyne bridge from our hotel room window.

another view of the sage and the tyne river.

here are some photos from durham, england.

yummy!

cowboy shadows in the sage

i don’t know what in the hell this is about.

i’ll leave you with some random images from the train

“carhenge” alliance, nebraska. we drove a few hundred miles out of the way and risked being late to a gig in omaha just to see carhenge. it was worth every mile. this is easily in my top five favorite roadside attractions that i’ve been fortunate enough to visit!

the nerds among us already know where this was taken but for everyone else it’s riverside, iowa.

church folks protesting an adult film store outside of uniontown, indiana. the man in the second picture yelled at me for about twenty minutes about fire and brimstone. every time i tried to smile and make nice he’d start screaming out bible verses. the woman just stood in the background quietly. he eventually ran out of scripture and asked if i’d like to take a photo.

thanks to everyone that came out to the shows in nawlins. i was fortunate enough to be a small part of a reconstruction effort led by a group of hoosiers that took a week out of their lives to rebuild a house in the 9th ward. there are good folks in this world who are trying their best to help out. now if we can get the white house to do it’s part we might be able to make some headway. individuals can help individuals but it takes a federal government to reclaim a city.

here are some photos of people that i met on the trip

a couple of fellas tryin to beat the heat. the man on the left spent four days stranded on his roof after katrina. he saw dozens of helicopters flying over each day but they never stopped.

he said “my name is stephen as in saint stephen”. i told him that i’ve seen the mummified hand of saint stephen in a cathedral in budapest. he said that it wasn’t his hand and then started talking about the bombing of dresden for twenty minutes.

live oaks are beautiful!

a bible that i found in the wreckage of the lower 9th ward.

this is a photo taken by my buddy todd fox. i think that it sums up the entire experience pretty well. be sure and visit his page at www.myspace.com/toddfoxphotography

here are some random photos of some wonderful street musicians.