The GPS Doesn’t Always Work In The Back Roads Of Vermont

I got invited to head down to Burlington Vermont to check out the Talib Kweli & Skyzoo show at the Nectar Lounge. 

To my surprise this turned out to be guest list tickets, which is always a lovely way to make me want to drive to wherever you are at. I’d never been to Burlington before, despite listening to 99.9 the Buzz for a lot of my life and hearing about all kinds of places. It was pretty cool to get a visual of what the city actually looks like.

Burlington is a smaller town than I thought, hosting a population of just under 45000 people. It’s a college town and it very much feels like that. The downtown sector is very much one of those places where you can hit everything in one night. That being said, it was cute and quaint, very mindful, very demure.

Definitely was not what I was expecting but I had a great time and even some adventures.

Trying to find a random house in the middle of nowhere Vermont

I was going to pick up the homie who was plugging up the access to the show.

They told me they lived an hour from Burlington. Turned out to be just a bit more, but also included these wild back roads. Now my foolish self relies on Waze as it’s fantastic for telling me when Montreal closes roads arbitrarily. 

It is not fantastic for country roads and it led me astray. To a road that was clearly not for cars. Then I ended up in some lady’s driveway with her dog jumping up on my car excited to greet me. I had to be like, I’m sorry, I am so lost and … my GPS had cut. 

She gave me some directions and I struggled to get my car out. I literally ended up in a farm field and my car nearly got caught on a bump in the road getting out. Finally I was able to orient and find the GPS signal. It delayed me only 15 minutes but I had this wild moment of what do I do?

I don’t have a map and these are twisty-twirvy mountain roads. Thankfully I was able to figure it out but I started picturing what I would do if I was actually stuck. Big moment of appreciation for city life.

Being out there in Vermont is a whole different experience.

Gas Stations don’t need an attendant to give you gas in Vermont

In hindsight this policy makes a lot of sense. 

There is almost no one out there past midnight in the whole state. Looking at the population data, the largest city is Burlington and they just get smaller. The whole store part of the gas station requires someone, with a salary to be there. If no one buys anything, it’s really a loss to keep it open overnight. However, given the small populations spread out far, people may need gas to get the 150 KM they got to drive at 3 AM.

Turns out you can just go to the pump and pay with your credit card. Put the gas into the car. Then you go. It’s so quick and easy. It’s so efficient. 

Some of you reading this may be wondering why I find this so profound. It’s because in Quebec you need an attendant to authorize your use of the pump. Even if your credit card gets charged a 250$ pre authorization fee to use the pump. 

Literally every time, the person at the cash register has to hit a button to let you get your gas. 

This is information you should have. Chris and I were looking for open spots tripping one time about how far things were and how closed everything was. Turns out we could have gotten gas anywhere. 

The more you know.

That Talib Kweli was sold out to an audience with a wildly big age gap

Burlington is a college town. 

From what I hear, underground music does very well in college towns and we as artists should think longer and harder on how to break into those scenes. I’m grateful we were able to get in as when I went to buy a ticket to support, the event was sold out. 

I really wasn’t expecting that. But the room was full of people. Youngsters, a dude who was in his 60s was there (Kweli did an age check as a way to hype up the crowd). There were also some feisty girls that were ready to brawl.

These little drunk wilding college girls look like they are a threat I do not want to mess with.

Talib Kweli even stopped the show to address some drama that was transpiring right next to me. I don’t know what happened but one girl told the next girl to keep it moving. The other girl gets sending menacing grins back on some, “try me bitch” energy. Was a whole experience.

All the rappers who performed were insanely good. Like at a level that is humbling to witness. They are all people who really get paid to do this because they are skilled at what they do.

I recommend checking out some of these college town shows. It’s super different.

Live Long and Prosper Everyone

P.S. Montreal is sort of a college town but it’s also a majour metropolis with crazy tourism budgets.