My Parent's Halfway House for Rappers

I flew home to Texas this past Friday. It's rodeo season in Houston, and I try to come home for it every year. The rodeo is a month long affair. It starts with Go Texan Day (yes, that's actually what it's called) and a trail ride into Houston, where cowboys/girls from all over literally ride their horses down the streets of Houston. Then every night for the next three weeks, there are livestock shows, rodeo events, and concerts (usually country western). Some of my favorite high school memories involve dancing to Clay Walker with my girlfriends at the rodeo.. ah, nostalgia! Of the actual rodeo activities, the highlight for me is mutton bustin, where 5 year olds are placed on top of sheep and try to stay on for as long as possible. You can find videos on YouTube, it's beyond hilarious.

The other reason I chose to come home this weekend was cause SXSW just ended, and for the past few years, Paul and his tour crew have been stopping afterwards for a night at my parents house to regroup, have a bed to sleep in, and get a good meal. Since I hate not seeing him for a month, I figured I would make sure to overlap with him on his Houston stopover this year.



Clockwise from left: Fresh Kils, Relic,

Toussaint Morrison, B. Durazzo, Mad Dukes,

Prem Rock, Willie Green, Ron Perks, and

Corina Corina

He's on tour with seven other guys though. Corina Corina and Toussaint Morrison are also on tour and have a show in Houston, so they are crashing at my parents place too. Which means my parents have NINE rappers staying in their home. Every bed, couch, sleeping bag is currently being used.

Last night, we treated them to some bbq and tex-mex. A true Texan guy, my dad is a big hunter, so he had some recently hunted elk burgers and sausages on the grill. While I'm pretty sure my parents never thought they would be hosting rappers, my dad definitely loved having an audience of dudes to listen to his hunting stories. And it was pretty cute to see my Italian mama making sure that all the rappers were well fed.

The funny thing is, as soon as the rappers leave, they are being replaced with a bunch of girls from the Harvard track team. You never know who will be staying at Chez Merrill.