its been a stressful week. our funds are severely skinny and tensions are a wee high. we balance with humor and are creating the vernon rust reality.
I host the zaniness on my flickr site.
thegraffithunter.
You will find a mad case of photography and art. It’s all my own.
Just in case you’re reading about us for the first time, I’ll give you a quickie low-down: Vernon and I ran off together last year, fell kinda sorta GOOFY (tsk, tsk) in love, lost everything, gained a whole lot more and strive to bring the best out in everyone….
Oh, and we lived on the streets last summer. To be honest, this summer isn’t looking too grand either, but then as our dear friend Squeaky said last night, ‘why would I worry, God’s got my back’…
With Vernon, I believe that…
here’s a wonderful moment in time when Vernon Rust performed downtown nashville and another cool friend wandered up on us…
You would not believe what has happened over the last couple of days!
Boy…does our saga continue.
The guys from Shreveport, that is John Perkins and Scott Floyd Crain came up to shoot some film for the Nashville Wild Child documentary.
It’s a rags to riches to gutter and then redemption life thus far story of my man Vernon Rust.
He’s the hottest songwriter in Nashville right now, with 6 cuts from a variety of recording artists namely; Scotty McCreery, David Nail, The Oak Ridge boys and new comer John Damian.
PLUS…he recorded and released an extremely spiritually inspired ‘A lot more Jesus’ with a group of the most amazing artists I have ever had the joy to meet…
Funny thing though…it doesn’t mean jack right now, as those kind of credits take a good 3-4 months to trickle back to the real man behind the freakin’ great tune that you just can’t get outta your head!!!!!!!!!
Filming went really well in the shadow and setting sun of the Parthenon…
Vernon and I were a wee bit anxious as we’re not crazy about being portrayed in our current homeless state.
However, Vernon rose admirably to the occasion & played an awesome couple of songs, ‘A lot more Jesus’ and ‘Wheels’…
We slept in the car that night when some thing disastrous happened…Old Bessies heating motor went out.
It was so cold in the car we wound up driving around the corner to Southern Hills hospital at 5am and sat cold protest in the ER waiting room.
Now the night shift are one heck of an easy going bunch and they put the telly on for us & gave us hot coffee, crackers, etc….how sweet!
The next day felt quite dire.
With dwindling funds, (the dollar goes absolutely no where these days, neither does the pound, the euro, etc, etc) we were really worried about the night ahead.
Temperatures were dropping fast making the thought of lasting the night in a cold car more and more dicey.
Then Vernon produced a card from a really cool musician dude we had met briefly while on our pilgrimage down to Montgomery, Al and recording ‘A lot more Jesus’.
Something had told Vernon to hang on to that card. It had not even made its way in to his wallet.
To top it all, add insult to injury…the driver’s side window powered down and stuck…and stuck fast!
Just what we needed, a nice open window for the 20 degree weather we were facing.
Enter ‘Cowboy’ Eddie Long…a veritable angel and THE hostess with the mostest.
He completely took us under his wings and got us in to a room in a motel near his home in Lebanon, TN.
Not only that but he entertained us at his place, made sure we were fed and watered, like only a true cowboy would…
On top of such wonderful hospitality he also hooked us up with two of the coolest motor mechanics….Elisha and Joe of E&J auto repair (615)347-8358….
They come HIGHLY recommende and spent the afternoon putting in a new heating motor and trying to fix the window.
The heater was a success, alas the window not.
So we taped it up good and proper with plastic…talk about a hillbilly ride!
And then it’s back to Nashville, and straight to the library before I would have serious internet withdrawal or writers cramp….
And to defy any logic to recent event…Guess what happened? Old Bessie’s radio came on good and loud with some pretty solid speaker action…
It’s a flat out awesome biker, rock, gospel message of our times.
We are chuffed to bits with it. Vernon has made him proud.
We have lived and breathed this for a long time now, myself joining Vernon’s journey a year a go this Christmas.
It’s a long crazy ride that has changed my whole life around…
Pilot and co-pilot. Together.
“Buckle up before you go to bed!”
Our mobile home.
We call her Bessie. Vern found her when I was in England.
I love her down to every little imperfection. She’ll let you know when something’s wrong…
She gets us up at 0500. In plenty good time for a free Mapco coffee and never too early to check out whats goin’ on.
We park in the same spot, every day. Right in front of the tire pressure/air thingy. You can pay for your air by credit card. Visa or MasterCard.
There’s an old guy called Tommy that’s just as early as we are.
He comes and sits in his truck. He helps the girls sweep the store and meets with a couple of other really nice, down-to-earth blokes on their way to work.
They are regulars, banding together at the beginning of each day for a ‘how’s it goin?’ A word of encouragement. A word of support.
Familiarity breeds solid friends…
He used to work at the store. Now, he can’t stay away…
I think he may have been fired, for nothing more than a cup of coffee. I’m not sure. He doesn’t seem bitter, just alone.
We imagine his apartment. Empty and bare. Sachets of ketchup and salsa solitarily minding the fridge door.
We’ve seen him up there at 02:00, real early for us too but out and about seeking some kind of human feelin’…
We drink a gallon of coffee each and write. Think about it anyway.
We’re just waiting for the library to open. It’s no big deal.
Vernon and I talk a lot. It’s surprising we ever get some sleep.
Hopes and dreams are a priority. And we are sincerely blessed, for sure.
“We’ve come a long way, baby” It’s so hard to put in words.
The two of Us.
Yes, You & I
We have learned to live with very little in life. And appreciate even more.
We headed down to Jefferson bridge the other day. For a lunch bunch at 2. Pastor Bob comes down with friends to help. pastor bob beeman
And there’s some music too. Some 70′s rock classics play, scratchy as they set up tables of home cooked food…
We saw many faces from this summer. Thankfully they all looked well. The nights are long and empty cold right now.
Livin’ on the streets is tough as hell…
Mentally its rough and different
Community is key.
There’s a congregational spirit that gathers to eat the food.
We take nothing for granted. Not a bite wasted and plenty, always to share.
It’s the eve of the release of THE song and message…’A lot More Jesus’ and Vernon, Tony Buenger of Guest House Studios, Eclectic, Al and myself have been hard at it with preparations…
Of course, Vernon & I are making good use of the computer facilities at the library and God bless the Nashville library system for their awesome public service.
I’m not quite sure how many days we have been livin’ out of our car…it was very cold last night and Vernon kept saying we should have invested in some Sterno for the dashboard…. I made sure I had on about 4-5 layers.
Old Bessie’s heater isn’t too great and that’s a lot of gas runnin’ the engine all night.
We woke up flat broke this morning.
I worry a lot less nowadays, ever since I got together with Vernon.
I’m much more likely to put my faith in God, and let him take care of all the anxiety…what will be, will be and he will always provide. Still it’s hard and sometimes I do find myself pretending not to worry…
Anyway, we have resources and have been in much more precarious positions over the past year.
So, chin up as my Mum used to say. Soldier on…
Luckily Mapco’s givin’ out free small coffees right now so we both amped up and headed under the bridge where we had spotted some graff earlier.
It’s a crisp December morning, bright sunlight but there’s some great shades and shadows under the bridge.
And, what an awesome, fantastic find too! Its been a while since thegraffitihunter has found such a wicked cool spot.
Totally hidden.
Completely abandoned.
Vernon is the perfect companion on a hunt. I’m a handful to keep up with and I always jump right in, feet first.
My life’s motto is ‘leap and the net will appear’ ! It was pretty slippy the last time we came here and I couldn’t shoot because of flat batteries…
You have to slip and slide to get where you need to go down here. There’s a fast, icy cold creek and a lot of these places are tricky, tricky, tricky….
Irregardless of our homeless situation, we find ourselves everyday chock full to the brim with Jesus …with hope…with faith.
It’s all because of Vernon’s song and message ‘a lot more Jesus’ ! It’s completely and utterly… infectious.
It has breathed a new life in to me, each and every day is an opportunity to share this message and spread his word of love and peace…
So…having spent Christmas time helping our friends on the street, giving out warm clothes, hot coffee and lending an attentive, caring ear, we were thrilled this morning to run in to some new friends under the bridge of brightly painted walls…
We hung out for a bit, in absolutely no hurry at all, swapping stories, telling jokes, sharing our joy of community and spirit of freedom and diversity…
Man listening to Man.
No pretension.
Only acceptance.
check out this wonderful video clip from this morning…
The last 18 hours have proved extremely interesting.
You could say very, very inspirational…
Vernon and I are listening to and sharing ‘A lot more Jesus’.
The more we hear it, the more we love it…
Helen & Vernon @ Guest House Studio’s, Eclectic, AL
Photo: Lori Pierce-Wright
The song has, without a shadow of a doubt renewed my faith.
And it did, purely by the simple act of reaching out.
I did not expect what happened next.
When last night’s rollercoaster of a ride sped off funnily in a slow, chuggin’ up the hill fashion.
Hardly a Hellbound train, but close…
Vernon and I had hung out for most of the day in the beautiful Edmondson Pike branch library.
Now, I’d be a fool to tell you as the public computers are mainly vacant, but it has great hours 10-8pm…
Cool, so I blogged to my hearts content…
I was, no correction, I am feelin’ a unique and special blessing surrounding Vernon’s message. It’s the timing. A turning point.
It’s all about a journey of personal and spiritual inner joy, with yet an external, and passionate, warrior spirit surrounding me and my fortunate involvement in the delivery of the message…
The sharing of this song.
I feel driven…
Then all of a sudden, I felt sick.
It appears I’m allergic to Nashville, despite loving the place and unsure that I would ever really want to leave, let alone HAVE to.
What a night our trusty car chose to peter out on us.
In the pouring rain, my body breathed to me in low & dangerous tones.
To the emergency room you must go…
Having endured and shouldered, and somewhat painfully the role of nurse for my entire working life, who was to take care of me?
Now, I’m a poor patient, the last on the rounds, always running myself in to the ground. For a while I have felt that I no longer am able to care…
The last empathizer I had to fill those rather large shoes was my mother…
and now I have Vernon…
Who has become my holistic companion.
Who wants only the best for me.
Who has helped me believe once more.
He has refreshed my faith,
re-inforced my worth….
It’s all the more reason to share his message,
This is the most beautiful performance.
And it happens to be the first song of Vernon’s that I had the joy and pleasure to hear him play…
That was a year ago this Christmas day.
It moved me to the very core then, just as it does now…
It fills me with comfort and warmth.
I knew in my heart of hearts what I must do.
And today, almost one year on, I’m really feelin’ the spirit.
And, yesterday evening as I raced the library’s public computer clock, the last line that I wrote and messaged to a friend was in response to her question. A very important question…
She listened to ‘A lot More Jesus’ and asked me if I believed.
I replied ‘Yes, I do’ and it occured to me that no one had ever asked that of me.
And I’m sure, up until now, I would have had no idea how to answer…
Vernon Rust’s soon to be released song, and message
Vernon & I are wonderfully blessed to be in the possession of a sturdy 1988 Nissan Stanza. It has cute little deficits, runs a wee bit ragged but it functions extremely well as our current house.
Having spent a blistering hot summer without shelter, we consider any kind of roof over our heads as truly a God-send.
Even when funds were available, it was very easy to weigh up the pro’s & con’s of getting one night in a flea bag, bed bug ridden motel on Dickerson road versus finding a dry comfortable park area, setting up camp and actually having money left over for other somewhat important things such as eating, a nice cup of coffee, or a fresh cigarette to smoke.
So, thankfully we have a car to hang out in, dine in and sleep in (quite comfortably, too). It’s a place to call our home, or our humorously our mobile crib…
Since the weather is chilly at night we have to consider if there will be enough gas in the tank to idle the car all night or start her up periodically for warmth. It certainly helps to layer up on clothing and hang drapes of some kind over the windows.
Urban campers we remain!
Seeking a quiet night’s sleep in any one of Nashville’s Wal-Mart parking lots makes for usually a problem free stay as there are regular rounds by security personnel in white trucks and apparently, the powers that be are pretty tolerant of overnight visitors.
Even truck drivers pull in for a safe night’s rest…
And the morning’s are filled with the beauty of a glorious sunrise, this greeted us today, with an awesome 360 degree view from our room…
…it also reassured us that life is good,
…that God is in charge,
and what will be will be.
One peril of urban camping is the constant threat of imperial entanglement, or a flashlight in the face, waking you up at 02:30 by a curious Metro Police officer.
Now if we were on the streets and without the mechanical safety of an automobile this would mean big trouble…perhaps, a warning and a gruff ’Move it along’ after ID’s are scrutinized or worse still a citation for trespassing and a subsequent court date.
We have taken all these stressors of urban camping in good stride, making the best of even the most dire of situations…prefering to stay together, keep each other safe, be trusted companions on life’s road of many up’s and down’s…
After all, home really is where the heart is…
And there is always a warm cup of coffee and a nice friendly, smiling face in the form of Dan @ the Exxon, across the street…
Vernon wrote a kick-ass song called Cadillac Tennessee, which is track #7 on John Damian’s newly released, debut album from Reptile Records of Nashville, Tn.
John most certainly does Vernon’s’ songs justice & Cadillac Tennessee is a complete roof raiser!!!
Please visit www.johndamianmusic.com for more information about this awesome new performer. (by the way, track #6: Gingerbread Man is also written by Vernon Rust).
Check it out here on You Tube where he performs live on stage at the Warehouse in Shreveport, La with Cody Cook, Jackie Brock and Ryan Dougherty…
Urban camping in our mobile crib is downright criminal fun…
Vernon feels complete. “We need a lot more Jesus” has finally been recorded.
And believe me when I say it is STELLAR!!! We haven’t even heard the master mix yet and we’re still stoked!!!!!!
I feel as though the whole spirituality behind this production really started the day of recording at Tony Buenger’s studio in Eclectic, Alabama.
Vernon and I came down here with just $20 in our pockets.
We left an icy cold, rainy Nashville in the middle of the night and crawled down to Montgomery to meet up with Curt.
Something just felt right about where this path was leading us. Especially the artists that were waiting for us to come together for Vernon’s song.
Only it’s not just a song, it’s a message…
Now the story behind how he & Vernon had met should be completely a whole other blog…
But, then all the chapters in Vernon’s life are stories, blogs…what ever you wanna call ‘em…that was one of my initial thoughts when I met him a year ago, almost to this very day…’there’s a book to be written here…’
So that first day of the recording started with a visit to the Hank Williams museum. We had run in to Beth Petty and her husband, Jeff…the night before at the ‘It’ll do’ bar and she invited us down there.
Curt invited Vernon and I to stay with him and his beautiful mother, Lela in Montgomery, Alabama. and what a welcome we received…
Curt Brewer has known Vernon for about 2 years but has been familiar with his awesome songwriting ability for much longer.
This is an amazing little story in the fact that Curt & a friend found a beat up old CD in a dumpster behind a studio on Music Row, Nashville…
On that CD was a song that Vernon & Keith Urban wrote.
Ironically, it included a song that Keith refused to do, titled ‘ That was Him, this is now’. It cost him his record deal at Warner Bro’s and almost cost him his career.
Curt recorded the song, minus vocals, but it was that wrinkle in time that sealed their friendship forever. They were getting ready to lay it down the road with ‘we need a lot more Jesus’…
We were pleased to learn that Curt’s Mom, was an accomplished performer, originally as ‘Lela Brewer and the Country Class’ and later as ‘The girl with the guitar’ and that she loved to sing Vernon’s song ‘Sacred ground’. Such a huge compliment and it was wonderful that the two should meet…
Anyway, so started this amazing experience…
Curt introduced Vernon to his friend Tony Buenger who owns, and quite obviously loves the Guest House studio, a place so full of love and music making…the vibe is absolutely palpable as soon as you arrive…
On the wall next to the mixing room is a great painting of Hank Williams.
Something told me it was supposed to be and when I saw my photo’s I really knew…
The studio was not only filled with awesome music, the kind that hits you right in the chest, or brings a tear to stinging eyes…
But beautiful, spherical energies that are impossible to explain. They are not dust particles, reflections…phenomena that I have tried to wrap my skeptical mind around and want to explain…
There is only one rationale…
We were all filled with the spirit…
Tony opened up the studio doors so that ‘A lot more Jesus’ could become a reality and…
the brightest orbs of all were on every photo of Vernon Rust….
