"... spending spring break in walton county jail..."
I didn't know Chris Manson of Beachcomber was a country music superstar!
The Beachcomber article is great too! Thanks for the comic relief after hearing about so many arrests and observing irrate locals.. time to sit back, relax for a month or so before Memorial Day, and watch Chris Manson's overnight music video sensation!
OPENING REMARKS - “SPRING BREAK IN THE WALTON COUNTY JAIL”
Beachcomber Editor Chris Manson is so busy these days being a rock star that he refused to write this issue’s column. He did, however, consent to be interviewed by us after approving our list of questions…By Christopher C. Manson
The video for “Spring Break in the Walton County Jail,” the song you wrote in response to all those youngsters getting arrested in Miramar Beach last month, has become a hit. Are you surprised? Yes, especially after we hit three million views in less than three weeks. Three thousand. Has the response been mostly favorable? It has. We’ve only had three thumbs down ratings out of three million views.
Three thousand. What inspired the song? My sorta-stepdaughter Jessika shared the news item with me—I generally read Beetle Bailey and the JUMBLE puzzle and skip over everything else—and I felt there was a funny song there. The next night I went out to hear some music and told everyone I had this idea—before they could say, “We don’t want to be involved in that, and we’re not buying you any more drinks,” I’d written most of the lyrics on my iPad. Two nights later I debuted the song at the Beal Street Bottle Club. Boukou Groove was playing and Derwin “Big D” Perkins graciously allowed me to use his guitar. I love that guy. Dave Posey shot the video, and I immediately posted it to YouTube before EdMo and Gwen could change the WiFi password.
Have you performed the song anywhere else?You don’t get out much, do you? I’ve done it at Hog’s Breath—Tim and Rusty from Flash Flood always let me play during their frequent breaks in lieu of buying me drinks. We did a live audio recording last week with the audience there, Tim playing guitar, me on harmonica, and Rusty capturing crowd noise on another mic. I can’t wait to hear how it turned out. Mike Ingram invited me to play it at Funky Blues Shack in Destin on Open Mic Night, too, and I’ve also performed it with Dave Posey on percussion at Black Angus (or whatever they’re calling it this week), and on “All Ages Jam Night” with a young bass player and drummer at Beal Street. There’s also a fun informal version on our 30A Songwriter Radio Guest DJ spot that Shannon Ireland extracted and posted on his Web site,www.30asongwriterradio.com.
So what’s next for Chris Manson? I’d like to actually make some money off the song. Or even better, hear some of the local bands cover it. I only have 40 years left on my Beachcombercontract, and I’m considering pursuing comedy songwriting full time after that. I’d love to work on my guitar playing, too. Right now I just kind of strum it like Lauryn Hill on her terrible MTV Unplugged show. I know a few riffs, but I can’t figure out how to work that bit from “Ticket to Ride” into my own song without it sounding ridiculous.
Spring Break will be over soon. Will you be getting back to work? Let me avoid your question by saying this. Hopefully, some of our visitors will continue to misbehave and I can bring the song back every season. I recently met a young lady that works for the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, and she told me she and her colleagues love the song. I’d love to perform it at their awards dinner, but only if Mike Adkinson will sing harmony with me. And to answer your question, wiseass, I will be getting back to work as soon as I thank these three million folks who took two and a half minutes out of their lives to watch my video.
