This is our second post in our ECE Coffee Talk series. In this series, one of our agents or artists share a more personal post full of musings and/or insight – basically, talking and rehashing life as if you were sitting across from each other sipping coffee. Today ECE Charleston agent, Scott Toole, shares with us his soundtrack for fall. Grab your mug and pull up a chair.
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The leaves seen through my window pane
Remind me that it’s time to move my life again
November sun is felt by none
A chilly breeze has blown my thoughts to what’s to come
A cup of warm coffee, some Vitamin C
– “Driving Song”

While fall does guarantee a bombardment of pumpkin-flavored everything, it does usher in so many good things: football, oysters and colder weather. Fall is my favorite season due to all of this and so much more.

Football season is a time for friends and family to love and hate each other over tailgates, big wins and stinging losses. As a Clemson alum, “Tiger Rag” has a special place in my heart. However, no matter the fight song, the sound of a live marching band is one of the best sounds of the season. It’s amazing how these opening notes can bring jubilation to half the crowd and silence the rest of them.

When I was a student, we had a gameday playlist we played every fall Saturday in our apartment. It was part “hype” music and part beer-drinking ballads. No matter the tune, it symbolized to our friends that gameday was indeed here again and we were ready to rock it.

The changing weather brings so much excitement to us here in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. It’s finally cooled down enough to get back outside comfortably to enjoy all of the great outdoors. To me personally, the picture is painted perfectly in the Tim McGraw song “Down on the Farm.”

Every Friday night there’s a steady cloud of dust
That leads back to a field filled with pickup trucks
It’s got old Hank crankin’ way up loud
Got coolers in the back, tailgates down
There’s a big fire burning but don’t be alarmed
It’s just country boys and girls getting down on the farm

Photo Source: Boone Hall Plantation Facebook Page

The fishing is picking up again. Shrimping season has started. The best part is that we are re-entering the ‘R’ months — that means oysters. The oyster roast is the quintessential fall gathering. For several years, ECE and its bands have been providing the musical backdrop for oyster roasts of all sizes including those at Vickery’s on Shem Creek, Boone Hall Plantation and the Palmetto Society.

It’s fall that takes us from tourist season to hurricane season. It’s a time that brings highs and lows, and I don’t just mean atmospheric pressure. Jimmy Buffett writes one of my all-time favorite songs and one, specifically, about this time of year: “Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season.”

With every storm brewing in the Atlantic, surfers are excited at the possibility of waves. Everyone else is hoping for the storm to make a turn back out to sea. As I load my board into the back of the truck, I take myself back to my harder rock days and play MxPx, NOFX and 311 to get my mind in the surfing mood.

What I like most about fall is that it makes me realize that variety is the spice of life. The soundtrack to my fall is about as colorful as the falling leaves. It seems to have a little hint of everything. From the hype music in the stadium, country classics heard around a bonfire, Top 40 hits played live while shucking oysters to the hard rock jams while crushing some waves, the sounds of the season are nostalgic mixed with the excitement of change.

Enjoy the changing of the seasons and, whatever you do, take care of your shoes.