Click here to view the pics. I did manage to get in some tweets during my trip.
1. on my way 2 augusta ga 4 cirque du soleil. on i95 in georgia n trafic is either stopped or crawlin cuz of construction. costin me time, man.
2. in augusta but not @ my hotel yet. georgia got sum cheap fuckin gas. 2.58 back home. 2.39 up here.
3. augusta is about da size of lakeland. really old buildings 2. nice views from da hotel. google maps only had 1 wrong direction. impressive.
4. james brown arena is a 15 min walk from my hotel. got here early. saved $5 on parking n hotel parkin is free when validated if u stay there.
5. augusta needs 2 purchase a leafblower 4 city employees. leaves evrywhere downtown. n dey got more variety of shops dan orlando. damn shame.
6. murdafurkas said no photos or photo n vid equipment. its fuckin cold n im wearin my big jacket. snuck my canon in. food is cheap 2.
7. 1st cirque show i been 2 where a mistake was made. twice by da same lady! she recovered though. got sum fire n confetti durin dis show.
8. after all da confetti got blew n2 da audience, dey jus went 2 intermision unanounced. chik nxt 2 me had 2 ask. dey cleanin all dat shit now.
9. good show as expected. medium sized arena. 1/3 full. no water fountains. food not as cheap as i thought. legroom is tight as fuck!
10.walkin thru downtown now peepin da historic shit like da 1st christian church n woodrow wilsons boyhood home. cant take good pics. too dark.
11.lotsa fuckin churches n vacant real estate here. dey even got a goddamn strip club downtown! aint dat a fuckin bitch?! fuck orlando! lol.
12.njoyed my trip but leevin is a bitch. took a wrong turn n lost time, got a speedin ticket, i95 south trafic is stopngo. jus wanna go home!
I knew a couple months before this show that I was gonna go. I got a Ticketmaster newsletter via email. It said there was a presale for this show. I love Cirque shows so I was curious as to where this one would be at. Closest it was gonna be was Augusta. First thought was, “That’s pretty far.” Second thought was, “Why Augusta?” It’s a pretty small city and located off in the cut. Ain’t make no sense to me but hey, it ain’t my show. I had time and some spare change on my hands. I live by the credo now that I ain’t passing up on no more once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I asked around, nobody wanted to go with me for all the same lame reasons (broke, can’t schedule that far in advance, not interested, other shit to do), so I got my ticket for my damn self and flew solo.
I managed to find a seating map online and got what I thought were the perfect seats. They weren’t bad at all but not what I was expecting when I got there. The best seats for a cirque show are always midway up the lower level, front and center. You get the best view of everything. No headturning or any of that shit. Everything is in full view right in front of you. I still got that from my seats but not quite as good as I preferred. I took advantage of a presale, ordered my shit, and printed my tix from online and the fucks charged me for it! My ink, my electricity, my printer getting wear and tear put on it, and I gotta fuckin’ pay for it? I can understand convenience but the price gouging is fucking ridiculous. The Augusta Entertainment Complex site uses the TM system to order tix. Same shit, same charges other than the presale discount.
A decent hotel was next on the list. A friend of mine who works for a major hotel chain hooked me up. Took some time cuz she ain’t dependable worth shit and ain’t the brightest light bulb in the box, but she got it done after some constant pestering from me. Sucks that I gotta ride certain people’s asses just for them to stick to their own damn word but I gotta do what I gotta do. Ended up at the Marriott Hotel & Suites right on the river. 2 totally different hotels. There’s the hotel that I stayed in and then there’s an adjoined building that’s the suites. A parking lot connects the two.
How I was gonna travel was next on the list. I thought about flying but prices were way outta my range. Probably cuz it was thanksgiving weekend. So that just left me the option to drive which would cost significantly less and even save me more time. I put up a Craigslist ad in the hopes of getting a reply from a chick who mighta wanted to kick it but all I got was spam and some faggot ass motherfucker who texted me asking if I was into down-low brothers. Hell naw…
The big day came and I packed lightly since it was just a one day affair. I gassed up the night before so I could just hit the road right away. Wrote down my directions from Google Maps then flexed. Nothing special happened until I hit the Georgia state line. I was talking on my cell phone and the call just dropped at the very moment I passed the ‘Welcome to Georgia’ sign. Don’t know what the fuck was up with that. As mentioned in my tweet, I95 traffic slowed down to a snail’s pace due to construction. Shit cost me a good 30 minutes to an hour of travel time which I coulda used to enjoy myself more or get some rest. I did have to gas up again and although I didn’t get my fill at this price, cheapest I saw was $2.39. 20 cent less than anywhere I saw in Florida.
To get to Augusta, I had to take some back roads. Lots of wide open spaces, swamps, forests, cotton fields, and large hills covered in trees changing colors for the season. I’ll admit, it was a beautiful sight to see. I either wrote down bad directions or was given bad directions when I got to my destination but it only cost me about 5 or 10 minutes of time. Downtown Augusta is fairly easy to navigate. It’s also fairly empty cuz most of the real estate is vacant and there ain’t a lot of people. And most of the buildings are old as dirt. I’d understand why later on cuz it’s an old, historical city. I found James Brown Arena in my car. Just wanted to be sure as to where it was cuz I planned on hoofing it from the hotel which I also passed by mistakenly but it was nothing to turn back around to find it although it was off in the cut and not very well marked. It was a dull brown color that blended in with the surroundings.
Once there, check-in was quick and parking was free. It was probably the most retarded parking lot I’ve ever seen. The fucking pillars take up most of the space. There’s parking spots that are side by side but it’s impossible to park more than one car, no matter the size, next to each other cuz you wouldn’t be able to open your doors cuz the pillars are so prominently in the way. I immediately snapped some shots of the city from the top floor (my room was a cityview on the 6th). Across the river were some nice, big homes. Turns out once you cross the water, you’d be in South Carolina. The room was clean (except for a couple of hairs in the bathroom) and comfy. Didn’t take long for me to crash.
My plan was to wake up in time to walk to the arena and then hit up the downtown area to see what was shaking and to take some pics. It was pretty damn cold too. Not much for foot traffic out there and since there were so many trees everywhere, that meant lots of dead leaves were everywhere too. Dead leaves, dead storefronts, it all matched up. I had no idea how big JBA was on the inside. Since I was wearing my big jacket, I snuck my camera in. Couldn’t use it till the very end of the show. Wasn’t trying to get kicked out.
I walked around on the inside but there was nothing at all to see. Just 2 concession areas and a merchandise stand. The merch was overpriced as expected. At first, I thought the concessions were fairly priced but in retrospect, they were in the same boat as the merch. Navy personnel worked the concessions. I forgot where they said their profits go to. I had my food and took my seat. Like I said before, not bad seats at all but I was about one section away from where I thought I was gonna be. I just stayed put cuz I ain’t know how full the joint was gonna get.
Turns out it wasn’t even close to a sellout. The place was more than half empty. What’s even more fucked up is that even with all the empty seats, my row was full. And what’s even MORE fucked up is that you don’t get a whole lot of leg room. The seats are so tight you’d think someone crammed you inside of a virgin’s pussy. If you’re on the smaller side, you’ll be fine. If you’re tall and/or big, you’re gonna be slightly to very uncomfy. The seats did have cupholders. Nice touch. A lady sitting above me was yapping it up with her hubby talking about how Augusta residents complain about not getting any good shows at the arena and when one finally comes along, nobody shows up. I don’t think a show on the scale of Cirque should ever have gone to such a tiny town located so far away from everything to begin with. And this was a night show on a weekend, too.
I seriously considered moving to an empty area but I opted to stay put. Other people in the arena made the move after intermission. I don’t blame them. JBA is a medium sized arena. Seats a good 5,000 or so. Not bad for a place the size of Augusta. On a positive note, no one farted during the show! The first big act was a lady on a swing and she slipped up a couple times. First time I’d ever seen a fuckup at a Cirque show but she recovered. Not all but most of the other big acts were variations on things I’ve seen before. But it was a totally enjoyable and unique experience as can be expected from a Cirque show. I look forward to the next one I go to.
Hot chicks? Other than the onstage talent, the real world talent was lacking. There were a few that stood out but since there weren’t many people there to begin with, I can’t say much for the women of Augusta. Some people just put on regular clothes and looked like nothing special. Others were dressed up like they were going to a 5-star restaurant. Unlike the Saltimbanco show I went to (read about that here), all of the cast came out for their final applause and even unmasked for everyone. I thought that was cool. When the show ended, the place cleared out pretty quick. I took what pics I could without getting into trouble and left. The night was young, I was in a new city alone, and had to find something to occupy my time. So I walked around.
I hit up a hood convenience store first to get something to drink then made my way back into the city. I hit up all the historical shit, some churches and shit, passed right on by the bars and clubs cuz they looked lame, snapped some pics where I could, and snuck into the science museum there. Well, I ain’t really sneak in but I did go on property into areas that were closed off. Then I walked the riverfront, walked through some parks, then called it a night when it was like 2 or 3 in the morning. There was a prom type deal going on at a church and what coulda been a house party cuz it was a bunch of hoodrats around another place. They have a big garden area I coulda easily jumped the fence to get into but opted out cuz of the time. If I had a girl, there’s more than plenty of fuck spots that are open to the public. And there was some sculpture, I got no idea what the fuck it was, across from the gardens. It was a monstrosity so I ain’t bother taking a pic.
I saw some good sights and heard some good sounds. Only person I really talked to was some kid in the hotel elevator who was a high school football player. Him and his peeps were going somewhere, he asked where I was from, I told him Orlando, and they all lit up and we high-fived. Hey, can’t fuck with my city! I was gonna walk around the hotel but I was hungry. Only managed to peep the pool which was under renovations and some of the convention area before heading out. Found a Wendy’s first but wanted something else. Couldn’t find shit else and when I got back to the Wendy’s, the motherfucker was closed. So I had to drive further to find a Burger King. Ate my shit, showered, watched some tv (crt, not flatscreen), and hit the bricks. It was a good time.
What’s fucked up is that I passed right by a 24 hour restaurant when I was walking but ain’t even realize it. I coulda saved some time and gas. The next day was pretty warm compared to the previous one. If it was warm in GA, I knew it’d be warm in FL. Housekeeping came knocking on my door around 10a when checkout was 12p. Hold the fuck up, motherfuckers! Damn! I did the express checkout and when I finally bounced, I took a wrong fucking turn going back home. Cost me 30 minutes and some gas but I did see one of the military forts there. When I got back on track, I had to eat something cuz I was starving. BK ain’t fill me up enough. I found a Church’s that had a dollar menu. If you ain’t know, Church’s got them bomb as fuck honey biscuits and this joint had 3 for a dollar. I thought I was just gonna get 2 cuz that’s all the menu pic had. I ain’t complaining bout that extra one. Them shits are so fucking delicious, man. I go to Church’s just for those alone. They’re that fucking good. The chicken is aight but them biscuits is that bomb, on the real! And the one’s I got was fresh, too? Shiiiit…you know I fucked them shits up.
Further down the road, I saw a deer laying on the side of the road…twice. The first one I had to take pics of cuz I ain’t never seen a damn deer just layed up like that. Fucking thing was shot in the neck and the hunter just left it there? Why? I think that’s bullshit. If you gonna kill it, at least eat the fucking thing. I can understand it’s in the median, maybe it was shot someplace else and that’s where it ended up. But I saw ANOTHER one a few more miles down the road. Seriously, what the fuck? With the first one, I ran a gag with a couple friends. Made them think I was holed up in a hospital after hitting the deer with my car. I spilled the beans early to one cuz she ain’t believe me at first. Once she did, I let her off the hook. The other one had it coming. Him and another friend got me good before. I got him once before as payback but had to get him twice. Damn fool almost drove all the way up to GA cuz I had him convinced he’d have to come and pick me up from the hospital. Everyone on my shitlist has gotten their payback now.
I coulda went all the way with it and let the idiot drive. When you fuck me, I fuck you back 10 times harder. At least I’m capable of it. Just had to let the fool know who he’s dealing with, here. I do have a heart. I like and appreciate a good prank but motherfuckers better be damn well prepared to be pranked. Don’t dish if you can’t take. That’s all I’ll say on that. On that same long, winding road I saw the deer on, a fucking cop pulled my ass over and gave me a speeding ticket. It was an older broad. GA state police. Told me to get out of the car with my license and all that shit rather than approach me. That was different. Bitch let me get right next to her while she wrote the ticket. Said I’d have to call to find out how much the ticket was. That’s the shit I ain’t like. How the fuck you gonna give me a ticket but can’t tell me how much it is? I ain’t never heard of no bullshit like that before. She said cuz she’s state police and works everywhere, each county has different rates.
We had a nice little convo about speeding. She said speeding is dangerous. I said everyone was speeding. She agreed but said I was going a bit faster than them. I admitted that but told her if we were all speeding, then we should all get ticketed. She said I was more dangerous than them. I said if we were all speeding regardless, then that should make us all equally dangerous using her logic. The real reason I got that ticket is cuz my speed was a bit higher, therefore my fine would be too which means more money for them. I know how the system works. What’s really fucked up is that I saw so many cops on my trip up and even more cops on my trip back home. Hell yeah, I was speeding the whole time and not one of those cops bothered me. She was going in the opposite direction and turned around to give me a ticket. Other cops would be side by side and not give the slightest fuck. Whatever. I’ll pay the damn thing. Gotta call a motherfucker to find out how much a ticket is. That’s some straight bullshit.
Oh, you know I was hauling ass all over again. Cops galore and none of them bothered me. She musta been bleeding or some bullshit or just ain’t like niggers. I95 traffic was a total bitch all over again. Glad I ain’t gotta deal with that shit nomore. That’s the type of shit that creates road rage where it wouldn’t usually exist. People ain’t got time to be sitting in traffic, wasting gas and time, putting wear and tear on their car. I’m glad as fuck I work from home and ain’t gotta deal with none of that bullshit on a daily basis like most people.
Even with the dead deer, the speeding ticket, getting lost, and other small shit that could have made the trip miserable, I had a damn good time. Got to experience a new city and saw a good show. And I’d do it all over again cuz life is good, no matter how bad it gets. If you ain’t ever been to a Cirque show, you need to experience at least one in your lifetime. You won’t forget it. Visiting Augusta? Eh. Unless you’re into American history, don’t bother.


















