My job requires a lot of travel. I've had more than one occasion where
I've walked into the office one morning only to turn around and dash
out to a client site some 200 miles away.

However, I do occasionally get to pick my assignments, and so I opted
to go to New Orleans, which coincided with Jen's last scheduled
performance on the Josh Kelley tour. I wasn't looking forward to
driving across three states after a four hundred mile round trip the
week before, but the opportunity to catch Jen performing again was
irresistible.

I left Birmingham at 6:30 a.m. and was making good time. As I was
going down the highway, I came up on a 2007 Dodge Charger in a dark
grey color. When I noticed the highway patrol license plate, it was
too late-- I was the proud owner of a ticket for driving 85 in a 70
mph zone. I was rather disgusted with myself because I generally don't
drive that fast and when I do, I make it a point to not attract police
attention.

Still reeling from the traffic stop, I made my way to the next city,
where traffic suddenly came to a crawl. I slogged my way through town
only to find a serious accident ten miles down the road. I did have
the good fortune to fall behind a police car that lead the way off the
highway onto a couple of side streets that let me bypass the crash scene.

The delays (one due to my own stupidity, one out of my control),
resulted me in arriving late onsite. I wasn't able to accomplish
everything I wanted to do today, so I arrived at my hotel feeling
tired, disgusted and frustrated. The only thing that kept me from
turning around and driving home was the promise of hearing the voice
of a certain blonde singer/songwriter.

I arrived at my hotel at 5:15 p.m. I spent a couple of hours
recovering from the day's events before walking the couple of blocks
to the House of Blues. I went up to the gate, presented my ID, then
was informed my camera was "too professional" to allow inside. A
couple of questions got me an audience with the venue's production
manager. I showed her my equipment (a Minolta Dimage Z6, a upmarket
consumer digital camera), and was told it was outside "the band's
guidelines." I asked who decides the guidelines... the venue? Josh
Kelley? Jen? The production manager suggested I return the camera to
my hotel room. That would have been pointless, as after walking back
to the hotel, placing the camera in a safe place, then returning to
the venue, Jen would have finished her set.

A second person from the venue walked up and apologized for all the
delays in answering my questions. I went into my entire argument about
cameras and form factors (my Minolta is a midsize zoom camera,
somewhat smaller than an SLR) and explained that there were in fact
smaller pocket cameras with higher resolution than mine. The venue had
not posted a photography policy at the door, nor was one listed for
the performance at Jen's MySpace site. The venue insisted I should
have reqested media credentials before the show.

"Ok... So I needed to call Josh Kelley's manager before I decided to
come to New Orleans for my regular job, right?" The venue manager
radioed the box office.

"Josh Kelley?" the venue manager replied. "He canceled last week.
Peeping Tom is performing tonight." It became clear. I was going by a
date on Jen's MySpace calendar she forgot to remove.

Now, I'm back in my hotel. I could have opted for another project
closer to home and avoided a speeding ticket. But what the hell.. I'm
going up to Bourbon Street to get drunk.