Mom would be proud. Photo by Albert J. Stichka.

By James Johnson

Last time on Rhode to Nowhere: our heroes, writer James Johnson and musicians Manquillan Minniefee and Stephen Waters from the band Quell the Rebellion went on an impromptu road trip from Fayetteville North Carolina to Providence Rhode Island, taking with them only $200, musical talent and six of the largest balls this world has ever seen.

Click here to read part I, and here to read part II.

Now, for part III

For such a small city, Providence was brimming with eventfulness. So much, in fact, that I’m going to have to break this story down into concise, vague and unhelpful blurbs.

Day 1

Minniefee, Waters and I meet our new roomies, Rhode Island College students, Dan Ferrell, Dan Baker and John Birt (Baker and Birt are members of the Providence Irish rock band Craic Was Mighty). Before any real introductions could be made, the three students let us in on their plan to rid their apartment of a fridge that they couldn’t quite fit down the stairs.

“See, a cop came by and told us the fridge was blocking an exit, and when we told him that we couldn’t fit it down the steps, he said to toss it out a window,” Ferrell explained. “… that sounds like permission to me.”

Some celebratory fridge tossing pasta was prepared, friends were invited over, and finally the main event.
Ferrell, Birt, Minniefee and Waters crowded around the apartment sized fridge and squeezed it through the tight window opening on the side of the building. The usual hunk of metal sounds were heard, however an uninvited sound effect arose - “KER-KLASH!”

“There wasn’t any glass in that fridge,” noted Ferrell while trying to peak out far enough to see what could have possibly made such a sound.

Soon enough the long arm of the law was called in (it didn’t have to stretch very far, being as their apartment was located directly across the street from a police station).

The men are given a nasty talking to by one cop after another (seriously, it was like every cop in town was forming a conga line outside), and even got a nasty ticket.

As it turns out, the glass we heard was the window of the downstairs apartment which the fridge had apparently hit on its way down … Reminder, this was just “day 1.”

Day 2

Minniefee, Waters and I decided to search the local Craigslist for jobs so that we’d have enough gas money to get back. I found a local indie paper which was willing to pay for freelance writers - though not very much. Meanwhile Waters found a post requesting a woman who would tie him up and watch a movie with him - somehow Waters saw this as a great opportunity, deciding that he could get a female friend to do the job, and take a cut for standing with her and acting as protection. This wasn’t actually that bad an idea, but sadly Waters didn’t follow through.

Minniefee is told by members of the band Craic Was Mighty that a gifted guitar player such as himself could make a pretty penny playing on the street in the rich area of town. The three of us decide to pin our hopes on the generosity of others and set out to street perform the following night.

Check in next week for part IIII of this story.