Deep in the Heart of Texas

When we got to Houston, we stopped at the bank to deposit some checks so Heather could do a pay out (she and Andy take care of all the finances for March Fourth) Unbeknownst to us, when we pulled away from the bank we were one body short. Luckily Aspen had his girlfriend Uli’s phone number memorized because we left him at the bank! He was without his cell phone, wallet, or shoes! He had skated around the corner and with 30 people it is easy to miss someone. We have a system so this does not happen. We have several ‘pods’ and they are named by color. Each pod has a pod leader, and anytime the bus is about to pull away each pod leader calls out ‘red team check!’ depending on the color. Well this was the first time we did not do that, so lesson learned. The venue was only 10 blocks away or so, so Aspen managed to find us pretty easily. It could have been a lot worse….
Houston was so fun!! We weren’t sure how we would be received in the red state of all red states, but they really dug it. Our first gig was to march around Washington Park at 6:30; the city hired us to entertain all the people on their way home from work. We marched to the park and played on a grassy area, covered in little dog poo shaped landmines. The first thing that came to mind was ‘oh shit, this could mean tragedy for the bus…’ but no one seemed to track it in, phew! The Houston public didn’t quite know what to think at first, but as we kept going they got more and more into it, and the kids were going crazy! My best friend Shalene’s brother Dax lives in Houston, and he and his girlfriend Stephanie came down to see the show, and they loved it. It’s so cool to see a scattering of people I know across the country, and it is even more wonderful to have them come out and see what I’m up to! We played there for about 45 minutes, and eventually the band moved into the audience (one of my favorite parts about the show) and marched off down toward the venue. At that point we had about 2 hours until our evening show, so Dax and Stephanie took Robin and I out to dinner. We went to this amazing sushi restaurant right down the street.. Usually I don’t like to eat a ton before a show but I couldn’t help myself! They had the most amazing rolls, and we ordered family style and all ate until we were long past full…yum yum!! Robin and I had to run off to go to our show.
Our gig was at a cool little place called Notsuoh (Houston spelled backwards) the stage was pretty small and only fit the horn players, drummers on the floor leaving little room for dancers. We managed to do a couple of dance pieces before we opened up the floor for people to dance. I didn’t hula hoop and I actually got people who had come from the park say they were disappointed that I didn’t do it again! Oh well I said, we’ll certainly be back to Houston. The people were so wonderful, and they got really into the music.
Up in the green room there was a pile of clothes; I looked like it had come from goodwill or something of the sort. A few of the horn players found some pretty fantastic dresses and decided to wear them for the show… Luke had on a hot orange polka dotted flamenco dress, Russ a slinky long shirt dress with a sexy slit up the side (Scottish style of ya know what I mean) Robin a frilly white wedding cake dress, and Ethan had a grass skirt. I was wondering how Houston would dig a crossdressing funky carnival marching band, and they took it in stride.
By the end of the set people were dancing like crazy… I saw a lot of M4 shirts walking around so I think we did pretty good at merch. Dax and Stephanie had told me at the beginning of the show that they were only going to stay a couple of songs…. By the end of the show they were in the front row and after they were in the tshirt line… I guess they liked it!
Afterwards we drove about 20 minutes to Taylor’s uncle Steve’s house. It was a huge beautiful brick house with a really beautiful swimming pool in the back. And the shower. Praise the almighty shower. I don’t think anyone had taken one since before the sweatstorm at the Hi-Ho in New Orleans… you can imagine how lovely our costumes are at this point. Most of us brought between 1 and 3 changes of costume, and they’re all used up by now! We have opportunity for laundry every once in awhile but overall it is pretty inconvenient. Many people are still sick. There is a terrible plague stewing around the bus, starts with a fever and body aches and all that, eventually the cough comes on and even those who were coughing when I started this tour two weeks ago are still coughing. Sometimes the bus sounds like a TB quarantine..
Steve was amazingly hospitable, cooking us the egg and bacon breakfast that we have become accustom to. I of course could not partake and ate my yogurt and cereal with a smile.
Again I’m going to say it. Oh the hospitality! In every single city or town that I have been to on this tour, one or more kind souls have taken this living breathing entity in, housed us, offered us showers and a variety of other things, and fed us. Not just fed us, but cooked for us. If you are reading this, thank you!!! Without you this would just not be possible. Really.
When we woke this morning it was already at least 80 degrees. After yummy breakfast and a quick dip in the pool, we were Austin bound…