This past weekend, I had the opportunity to finish my “Floco Torres & Friends 2012” tour with three shows in Milledgeville, Asheville, N.C., and Macon. I’ve been on trains, planes and buses in different cities most of the year for 63 shows (the most I’ve done in one year), performing my song “Cherry Street” at all of them.

The response is always great considering that most people have never heard of Macon, and if they have it’s from our general musical heritage. Taking this past Sunday to do nothing, I watched a new “Bob’s Burgers” cartoon episode called “Ear-sy Rider.” (I love “Bob’s Burgers,” by the way.) The episode references Macon in a joke by a One Eyed Snakes biker gang member stating that Macon is known for its beautiful azaleas, only second to its crank. (I’m sure you all know what crank is, if not, it’s meth.)

I was surprised by the joke and not in the way most Maconites that heard the joke probably were. I had more of the “C’mon man ...” attitude about it. I try to be as open minded as possible considering my profession, but this one just didn’t stick with me.

To be fair, the azaleas were probably a reference to the cherry blossoms because Macon isn’t known for azaleas.

And crank was a problem in Macon back in the late ’80s/early ’90s.

I guess my attitude is more of the same stance I have when I watch the local news and have to sit through 26 minutes of negative attention about crime statistics just to see the four minutes of positive reports.

Where’s the balance? I tried to do some research to see if any of the writers actually lived in Macon at one point, and the only name I found is Jack McBrayer. McBrayer of “30 Rock,” “Arrested Development” and the “Touch My Body” Mariah Carey video, is from Conyers and lived in Macon in his early childhood, but is not listed on the season three credits. I understand that for the joke to translate, an actual city name probably had to be used, but why Macon?

It didn’t make the joke funnier or help the story line. It was sort of a “Saturday Night Live”-type “getting you back for that thing you did to me” joke.

This column is turning into more of an open-ended rant than anything, I suppose. How many steps back do we have to take before this city can be seen in a positive light? Is the fact that Macon was used on a popular cartoon more important than what it was used for? Do I just not get the joke because I don’t know about meth outside of those “this is what meth does to you” creepy commercials?

Anyway, it’s Halloween time. We all know what that means: the lovely Pilar Wilder has been working hard with her team to perform Michael Jackson’s Thriller Dance at the sixth annual Zombie Parade. Friday at Cherry Street plaza, the intersection will be blocked off from 8-10 p.m. for a huge dance party and the performance of the Thriller Dance. I have only seen these guys do this once and it was in Atlanta last year so I’m excited to see the full thing this year.

I hope everyone comes out and enjoys themselves this weekend as almost every bar/venue will be having some sort of Halloween festivities. Don’t lose all your energy over the weekend though, because Halloween is actually on Wednesday and it would not be good for the streets to be costume-less by then.

Floco Torres is an artist/songwriter. Contact him at flocotorres@gmail.com.