the last half of the tour was so chaotic, and without much computer/internet access, you'll have to settle for a recap a few days later.
the show in austin was pretty well attended. at least the whole crew came down to
elysium to support the endeavor. another late night and little sleep, we were on the road, headed to NOLA. the rest of texas, houston, et al was a blur. it was nothing like the desolation of west texas. 200+ miles and NOTHING! not a damn thing. not even cell service most of the time. civilization was a german town called fredricksburg and the 'texas ranch road' which was endless miles of ranches. and goats. what is up with so many goats in texas? i have never seen that number of goats in one place in my life.
as soon as we entered louisiana, people stopped wearing shoes in public. no kidding. we stopped at a gas station outside of baton rouge(after we had been on some 15 mile bridge across the swap, bayou, whathaveyou) that featured a live tiger (GO LSU!) that someone should really inform PETA about. people were wandering around the gas station with no shoes. it was totally bizarre to me. i'd always thought that i knew "country folk" growing up in the middle of nowhere in iowa and then spending three years of my life in a rather backwater town in missouri. but oh, i was wrong. NOLA was incredible. jessica's hospitality was phenomenal. after the show at the
hi-ho lounge, we discovered that we had several days to kill as one of the shows had been cancelled. we spent an entire day wandering around the french quarter, getting drunk. i forced everyone to take a stroll down bourbon street(the smell of vomit will knock out the weak and elderly) and i purchased what possibly could have been the best purchase of my life. a vodka + red bull 20oz slushie. i am totally down with the alcoholic slushies. it's the only way to deal with the excessive summer heat. we spent a several hours at a russian-themed bar in the quarter named
pravda. the boys ordered absinthe as we admired the show that the bartender put on for us making the drinks. i astounded everyone by ordering stoli shaken at 1:30am and being able to function the next day. ha. they have no idea about my rep as a robot. the decision was made to spend the next few days in memphis...
mississippi, how i don't really remember much of you. the most notable place that we drove through was jackson(the johnny cash/june carter song kept going through my head). as we went past the parade of chili's, olive garden and outback steakhouse, it occured to me to tell them to stop so that we could have some sort of dinner. instead, we stopped at some truckstop literally in the middle of nowhere. the food was actually pretty good, and we escaped with only a few raised eyebrows. memphis was relaxing, nowhere to really be and no agenda to accomplish. we headed down to beale street in search of food and nightlife. we ate at
rendezvous, delicious, delicious bbq with michelob on tap. there was a big neon sign in the bar that said, "proudly serving michelob since 1954", and we all had a 'when in rome' attitude. the nightlife in memphis consisted of mostly beale street bars and blues clubs. i stepped into a couple, just to see what it was all about. i discovered a bar that sold nothing BUT 190 proof grain alcohol slushies! it had the added bonus of karaoke, so i drug everyone in with me. i was proud that everyone took their turn at the mic. fun accomplished!
the drive to wichita was pretty unremarkable, nothing like the drive through arizona desert and new mexico. we did go through little rock and part of oklahoma, but i was asleep or reading for most of it. we arrived in wichita rather late, and as soon as we were shown the rooms that were ours for the night, i got ready to jump into bed. everyone else stayed up until 5 am, so it was a slow day before the show. the promoter took us to village inn and i got pie! i had been really jonesing for dairy queen, since there seem to be a shop every five miles in texas, but this was a sufficient alternative. the club in wichita was a D I V E, complete with a garage sound set-up. i drank my
boulevard amber and tried to keep everyone in good spirits. the show went off fairly well, the crowd was a bit weird. i was having a nice conversation with a boy who had to have been all of 19....he asked me how long i had been filming the band, etc. etc. i tried to convince him that film school is not a waste (ha!) and that he should keep on because even after all these years, i still love it. then the town skank came and gave him a lapdance. i am not exaggerating. she was a sight to see. at one point, while on the boy's lap, she turned to me and said, "where are you from? you look pretty good for a blonde." i made a face and told her that what she said was offensive. i got off easy with that one. she accosted poor mera, not once, but twice. mera was forced to hide in the van the rest of the night. the guy that showed up to dj after the show was great. he's from KC and apparently took over the night that the band was originally supposed to play. i was even more disappointed that the show at
davey's was cancelled. the band's free drink for the night was free PBR in cans, which always seems to make me sleepy, so i again went to bed early. we didn't get started on the drive home to chicago until 3pm.
12+ hrs in a van is a long time. the only other road trip that i've been on, we topped out at a return trip from DC at 24 hrs. the nice part about the drive home was the fact that i didn't need to frantically rely on michael's treo for directions. i knew the drive by heart, once we were out of wichita and on I-35. i convinced everyone to stop at the I-80 truckstop in iowa. it's my stop on the way to and from my parents' house. it's on 22 acres and pretty impressive, even to city kids. dairy queen was sadly closed for the night, but i did have a lovely BLT and some fried califlower in the 24 hr restaurant. with 200 miles to go, i focused on just trying to keep the driver entertained.
i arrived home at 3:30am. promtly dropped my bags in the living room, relived that it was the last time i would have to lug that shit up stairs and went to bed. i slept most of the day on saturday, made a few calls, checked email. the band picked me up at 5:30pm so that we could make the trek to milwaukee. we stopped at the mars cheese castle on the way. i lived in wisconsin for five years, but had never gone to the cheese castle. i purchased a six pack of
new glarus spotted cow as i have missed new glarus greatly since they stopped distributing it to chicago. people showed up to the show in milwaukee, maybe a few less than expected, but not a bad turn out overall. i got to see my friend, michelle, before she packs up and moves to seattle. four too many shots of jameson later, i found myself in the van with the video camera on. i've been promised a copy, but i wonder if i might want all copies of the video destroyed? i doubt it. i'm not really embarrassed by much. i can't recall when we got back to chicago, but it was a near repeat of the night before.
i woke up sometime in the early afternoon, a bit confused about how i was actually in my apartment. slowly got ready for the final show, after a phone call from my mom signalled that it was time for me to leave. i do have to say, it was a bit sad setting up the merch booth and tripod for the last time. i had really gotten setting everything up down to a science. and oh, the exhaustion! it had finally set in. i needed a red bull+ vodka to keep myself alive before the show. after my band was done, michael's other band went on. i had met them the night before in milwaukee, as they played with us at that show as well. during one of the songs, the girl lead singer motioned for me to come up to the stage. i ended up getting up on the stage, dancing with her, and getting my dress unzipped! the guys in the band got quite a show! too bad that the welcoming party hadn't stuck around, as i am sure that the would have been amused by the antics.
so, what's the verdict? i can feel you all asking, really, i can. and it's this. i would do it all again. i really enjoyed being on the road, the unpredictability and lack of satisfactory toilets nonwithstanding. i had a great time. i got to meet some really cool people. i got to drive through the desert. what more could a girl ask for?
i don't plan on discontinuing this blog just because i am no longer on tour. entries might be few and far between, but i plan to keep it up, either as something that i can post to when the mood strikes me, or as a space on the web where i can post traveling stories. i haven't figured that out yet. i believe that you can add this into your RSS feed, or whathaveyou, to get alerts when i actually do update.
oh yeah, maybe i should give out some make-up tips? :)
