Delaying the inevitable

Looking for a way to act like you're rolling in the dough and live luxuriously when in reality you're just a terribly poor college student? Join the University of North Carolina marching band. Or, more importantly, be in the band that gets to follow the basketball team.

You'll get to fly into Memphis on a private jet, get a police escort all the way to your very expensive hotel and, on top of it all, you get $30 a day to do whatever the hell you want. All because you can blow a few notes. Can't beat it, if you ask me.

Let me break this down for you. Our hotel is the Peabody, a hotel so ritzy and desperate for something to spend money on that they have a procession of ducks -- yes, ducks -- that march from the elevator to the fountain, where they hang out all day.


I apologize for the crappiness of this video. It was taken with my little digital camera. The poor thing tries hard.

Then I got a delicious burger on the bands tab. Then I got a NCAA Sweet Sixteen shirt on the bands tab. Then I got to sit on the second row and watch the basketball open practice.



And to top off the day, I got to eat this, on the bands tab.



That's a full rack of ribs from Rendezvous Ribs, some of the best ribs in the town. Then we went down to Beale Street to B.B. King's club to hear a great house band and watch Memphis and dook lose. The night can't get much better than that.

So I may be dirt poor and borderline homeless in a few months. But right now, I'm living the life. Tomorrow, I'm going to Graceland.