Tennessee

Southern warmth and friendliness is alive and well in Nashville! Spencer and I spent the entire time in Nashville in a superb cafe called Cafe CoCo. I sat down in a corner table and finished 3 drawings as the characters of CoCo's approached and introduced themselves to me.

We met Jerry, an illustrator/designer, Omar, a recovering heroin addict and artist/chef with an idea of traveling the country writing and documenting the lives of past and present users of opiates in every corner of the country. He is an intelligent and articulate person with a great idea. We also meet Amanda, Syrus, and Jacob. Beautiful, open, Amanda with her 1 year old Syrus and her companion Jacob. Amanda reminded me of my favorite actress Lily Taylor in her appearance, and I could tell by her eyes what a special person she was. When we said goodbye, she thanked us so much for the experience of the shoot and said "thanks for being alive." We also met Naropa at the cafe, a mural artist who moved from NY to Nashville and loves living here. He is a friend of a group of our friends from NY.
		There were great connections and positive energy from the Nashville shoot. Spencer staged 1 shoot in front of a sign "Whatever" and another in front of "The Parthenon". Another model, Reg drove up with his lovely wife Leah and had a velvet royal purple robe with golden trim. He was too perfect for the Parthenon shoot! We couldn't have found a more regal, classic model. 2 days ago I felt ready to go home, in our freezing cold van trying to get warm and dreading the early morning shoot. The people and the shoot in Nashville have warmed me back up and given me some of their enthusiasm to take with me.

One more character worked the counter at CoCo's. Danny, a Tennessee native, gave us coffee and iced mocha's and loved looking at my drawings. He went slowly and carefully through every single one of my drawings and every single one of Spencer's photos, and commented and praised each one in his great, soft Southern voice. His dream is to build a cabin on 5 acres of land, 15 or 30 minutes outside the city. He invited us to stay with him the next time we visit Nashville. I gave him a drawing and he promised to have it framed. I was feeling a bit guilty about not exploring this city more, but I don't think we could have had a better experience than meeting people at CoCo's.