Buckethead, Hashing and Jerk

I forgot to mention that I had the privilege of seeing Buckethead a week or so ago at a tiny venue here in Lauderdale. The opening act was a guy called That One Guy. We played this crazy harp thing that he made out of stainless steel piping, one bass string and some effects buttons. He could make a bunch of music for just being one guy. Later, he came out and played with Buckethead. It was good.

Last night, I went hashing for the first time. Basically, its a loose club of people who like to drink beer and run around. Its fairly weird but really fun. This is all the information that I had before I showed up last night. I had looked it up on the internet and found a hotline to call for info about upcoming hashes. There are usually about 5 or so each week anywhere between Palm Beach and Miami. So I called the number and found out about Hash. I learned that it costs $2 to pay for cheap beer and that we were supposed to meet up at a Library parking lot at 6:30pm in Hollywood. So I got my running shoes and showed up. When I got there there were already a few people standing around drinking beer, waiting as more people showed up. From what I could tell, there was not any sort of commonality among the hashers other than the fact that they enjoyed running and drinking beer.

At this point, people welcomed me as "Virgin Louis" and explained how things work. Basically, at each hashing event, there is one organizer called the "hare." This position rotates every week. The hare is responsible for bringing coolers, ice and some beer. We each gave the hare $2 bucks this time, though normally these things are BYOB + 1$ for the ice and beer for the beer stop. The hares are also responsible for setting the course. At around 7pm, they took off, reminding us to look for baking flour and banana peels to stay on the path. We followed 10 mins after. The hares left different kinds of markings that indicate different things. A single blob of flour is called a "plop" and generally signifies that you are on the right track. If you have found 3 in a row, then you are definitely on the right track. An "X" in the road signifies that the path could have turned in any direction. At this point, people split up and search for about 100 yards in search of more "plops" This makes it a bit more challenging, and because the guys in front are doubling back at the Xs, it also serves to keep the group together. A few of the guys ran with whistles and would blow it to help others find the trail. One guy ran with a conch shell in a side holster and another had a bugle. Some of the costumes were funny as well. Because this particular hash was a Banana theme, most wore yellow, one guy had a banana costume, a girl had a cub scout uniform "pub scout" and one guy wore only a banana hammock. The trail took us through many different side streets, across a bridge, through a hotel lobby and a beach bar. So the scene is 20 or so adults in strange outfits running absently through the streets and establishments of Fort Lauderdale sounding whistles and shells. Also at this point, i had one of those 3rd person views of my own life. Not in a negative way, but "How did I get here?" Eventually, we saw "BN" written in flour on the road, which means "beer near." We rounded a corner to find a a couple of the faster ones already at the beer check, which was a parking lot near the inter coastal. A 15-20 beer break ensued. At this point, Banana Hammock jumped in the water.
The whole group caught up and a few minutes later, the hares left again to make the trail, which led us back to the original parking lot for the ceremonial part. it involved singing, chanting, dancing and the eventual naming of Chiquita Mussolini. You will have to go to figure out what goes on. That ended at 9:30 or so and those who chose went to the "on after" at a bar for some late dinner.This is from the "On After." Everyone in the photo was along on the hash with the exception of the woman in the front. She is a nice stranger who joined the party.

All in all, I am very surprised that this exists and I had not previously known of it. It was very fun and I will definitely be back. Some of the hashes can get really intense and take the better part of a day to complete.

In other news, i rode my bike 12 miles to a Jamaican jerk chicken festival. It was really hot and I popped my tire, but the music and the chicken were both good. coconut water, on the other hand, is not delicious.