Californ I-A

Pretty lights





In Santa Barbara today. Its been a good week. A few days on the bus then a night or two in a comfy hotel bed.


There were about 17 churches next door to our hotel in Sacramento


I felt very repentant. Actually not all. My sins keep me warm at night.

Sushi carnage

Sea Urchin - ordered but never consumed. At one point Christina got so grossed out that we had to cover this up with ginger.


Weird fountain outside the hotel.

This little guy looked like he belonged at the Mutter.


Holy foot long!


Mmmmm. Hot dogs and Bromance.


PS - I am slightly obsessed with this clip from 'Rachel Getting Married'. Not great quality, but the sentiment is there I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zqkSMOTq50 
(I am not yet savvy enough to embed the video!)

I have always imagined it to be terribly awkward to have someone serenade you, but I like this. I wouldn't mind Tunde Adebimpe singing Neil Young to me on our wedding day....

The film is pretty solid overall. I was way more into the crazy supporting cast (comprised mostly of friends and family of Jonathan Demme and the producers) than I was Anne Hathaway. I highly recommend watching it with the commentary on. 

Going into Swine Flu, CA tomorrow. We stocked up on tons of Purell.

Half dead

So we had a couple of glorious days off in Seattle. Although this last leg was not nearly as harrowing as our run of 7 shows in a row at the beginning of the tour, I was most definitely ready to sleep in a space bigger than the size of a lawn chair.

We were booked at the Hotel Max downtown. Its a nice little boutique hotel, but I have stayed there before so know they have some teeny tiny rooms. Imagine my glee when I walked into this!

I literally jumped for joy when I saw that I had been upgraded. It was nothing short of amazing. Who knew that the ability to change clothes openly and take a shower whenever I want would wow me? But it did. 

The weather was awesome - I had all of these plans to do things outside, but ended up sitting on the couch in my room most of the time eating gummy bears. 

Christina told me about this crazy bar that often stages shows where groups of drag queens reenact different movies. It just so happened that the night we were in Seattle they were performing 'Goonies'. I was hard pressed to think of a better way to spend my evening.  And it pretty much ended up being the the best thing I have ever seen.

They didnt have much in the way of props, or costumes or line memorization, but I am not kidding when I say that each actor somehow managed to capture the essence of their character. It was hilarious and magical. The vodka sodas didn't hurt either.

Chunk and Sloth


Christina's brother Wes and Taylor. Tres adorable


This is Christina with Mama Fratelli. I literally spent an entire day laughing at this photo. RULES
Anne Ramsey would be so proud!!!


I should mention that Mama Fratelli didn't quite look like a deranged clown when she was onstage. Must have been the lighting...

Then it was back to the suite for some more loafing. Am in Spokane now. Home to this. Halfway home....

Trying to make the best of my time....

I have been waiting for the moment on this tour when I would be exhausted and overextended and ready to be done. And it came today. I had a moment where I wanted nothing more than to sleep in my own bed and spend about 40 hours on my couch refreshing my perspective and general sense of well being. The pity party, as it turned out was short lived. And it is nice that I made it half way through the tour before I wanted to punch someone in the face! 

Being on tour is a really fascinating microcosm of human emotion. You are inevitably surrounded by the same people 24 hours a day. When you are in such close proximity to one another, you form accelerated relationships and connections. You have experiences with these people in a super short span of time - situations that would normally occur over the course of many months or years of a normal friendship or co-workership. Some are good, some bad and some just irritating. The rad thing is that when you identify the people you really get along with, they are the ones that inevitably become the tethers that keep your obliterated corpse of a self from just collapsing completely. A bit dramatic of a description really, but lets just say that there are a couple of people I am really glad are here.

We have been all over the Midwest this last week. And its mostly pretty. The catering at said shows also almost always include food options that are drowned in creamy sauces. Some of its good and some of it is dog barf. 

This is at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. It looked like Carribean whorehouse/ funhouse to me: 

The ceiling was decidedly Black Sabbath-ish.


Talk about perspective. Even on my worst day my job is not nearly as bad as this dude's.


You can't really tell from this photo, but homey is basically dangling from the side of a building by a thin rope with nothing to sit on but a tiny slat of wood. Yeep!

In PST now hoping to get out and enjoy this uncanny sunny Seattle day!

Everything seems better after sleep

Today is one tired day. I am working but we are doing a show taping so its pretty mellow. There is a couch in the production office that has my name all over it. Its taking everything I have not to curl up on it and sleep my way through the rest of my day. 

Urbandictionary.com helps though. Here are a few gems:

"Are you shitreous?"

A phrase that comes from the mixture of the emphatic expressions "no shit!" and "are you serious?" It is normally used in response to some surprising or shocking news or information. When said fast is indistinguishable from saying "are you serious?"

Ghetto Upgrade
When you are flying economy on a near empty flight and can lay across an entire row of seats.

Niteflix
Dreams so complex in plot and rich in production value that they seem like feature length films.

The dudes on tour have dropped a couple of good ones as well. For instance when a person in a band is out and about in normal life and someone realizes who they are its called being "Rock-ognized".  And when you wait so long to eat that you become a flaming ball of irritation and frustration its called being "Hangry". 

I am usually a little late on the slang tip so those are both probably really last year. But they crack me up nonetheless. 

On a completely different note, we had a day off in Minneapolis the other day. I got one of the best massages of my life (don't tell my mom, ok?). Will, my therapist looked like an adorably chubby Lance Bass and I was afraid he was going to be a "chatter". But I pretty much told him I was in need of silence and serenity and he was kind enough to oblige my request for 50 straight minutes of human contact that did not involve a single uttered word. He had hands that were magic. I was so relaxed afterward that I felt like I was sleep walking. 

Despite that this is in no way a glamour shot,  I feel I need to share so you can see what total epic relaxedness looks like. 

He spent a long time on my head, which I love more than most things in this world, hence the rad hair. I think I am going to start a salon where you don't actually get haircuts, you just pay someone to shampoo your hair and give you scalp massages in 15 minute increments. You heard it here first! 

They are ready for you on stage, Ms. Minnelli

The band has been playing a lot of theaters on this tour. Most are historic and beautiful (and dirty). And almost all of the dressing rooms look similar to this.

Its a bit unnerving sitting in a room all day trying to work with mirrors and bright lights all around. It does sort of make one feel like a Broadway star. Or at least her understudy.

We had a show in Memphis a few days back. Didn't get out of the building much, but was told the venue we were at was very close to where Jeff Buckley drowned. This is the Mississipp....

You will note that most of the photos here are taken from indoors. My duties on the tour pretty much keep me tethered to the production office like a little kid on one of those horrible child leashes. But you know, in a more loving manner.

I definitely would love to return to Memphis and explore. But at least I can now say I have been there!

The venue had all these random Hollywood Walk of Fame-esque stars on the sidewalk out front. These three were right next to each other.




Pretty great trifecta.....

Also, this happened. And Sarah, its actually the reason I now know so much about costume shops in Tulsa, OK. It was a little surprise Easter-themed dance party for the opening band. And it was hilarious.
I am in Minnesota now. Stay tuned!

Kentucky Woman

Now this happening.
A few nights ago on the rumbly bus, I lost the cap to my toothpaste. Its a mess. Is this really blog-worthy? I don't know. Maybe its just a slow news day.

This is about as much as I saw of Louisville, KY while I was there. 

We were at the Louisville Palace Theatre. My initial impression of it after seeing the backstage area was "dump" but when I went out into the actual theater, I changed my vote to "pretty".




You can't really tell from the photos (PS I ordered a new camera. Sorry dad!) but the whole theater had this lofty, ornate feel to it. There were a lot of statues looking down in judgement on the crowd and the walls and ceiling were painted this amazing royal blue. It looked like Ancient Greece. Or Disneyland.

And speaking of blue, this is my house. Its surprisingly cozy. And I only have 11 roommates! 

Let me show you around. This is the front lounge. It is where we take our meals and entertain

This is the bathroom you are not allowed to poop in.

Night Night


In Memphis now. I wish I could visit Graceland......

OoooooooooooBAMA

Wednesday was the DC show. And after a brutal night before and no sleep for almost everyone in the touring party, it turned out to actually be a good day! 

First, someone brought me this huge strawberry to marvel at. It was as big as my fist and looked like and actual human heart. 


I realize the photo is not the best but I had to take it quickly. You get what I was going for.

THEN, my friend Heather who is working for the Cold War Kids (who are opening the tour) brought me flowers! She was just sharing some that she had received with a few of us. But it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

That is the greatest thing about having other ladies on the tour with me (there are just 3 of us, but still!) It makes a difference. Chicks are sensitive and thoughtful and like to do nice things for other people. Boys on the other hand, like to use the women's bathroom back stage to go number 2 in. Ying and yang.

After the show we all got on the bus to enjoy an end of the night bevvy. Nick stopped by to ask if we had made it across the street to check out the White House. 

Wha?

Unbeknownst to all of us who had been quarantined indoors all day with work was the fact that the venue was literally a block away from Pennsylvania Ave and the parameter of the White House. So of course we had to go check it out! 

Even at 3 in the morning there were several police officers around.  They gave very little regard to the fact that a couple of folks in the group were walking along with open bottles of beer. I however learned the hard way that you are not actually allowed to walk across Pennsylvania Avenue. Like you literally cannot set foot on the street. 

Sasha and Malia were surely tucked in their beds and fast asleep when we snapped this one

Then there were the Leaning Tower of Pisa-esque photos that we took with the Washington Monument.




Ok so officially these have been Photoshopped but the whole concept seemed f-ing hilarious at 3 in the morning after two glasses of wine. Especially when I kept telling Lucas to make it look like the Washington Monument was coming out of his mouth. 

So that was day 6. Every day seems like it lasts a week. But that just means I have more time to hone my blogging and photo taking skills!