Home Sweet Home

I am writing this final tour blog from the comfort of my own living room, my kitty snuggled up beside me and my roommates cooking a fragrant dinner in the kitchen. Ahhhhhh….. So much room here! By the end of my tour journey I was starting to run out of patience for people in my way and being in their way! I also think I had run out of ‘keep track of things’ because in the final hour I lost my camera and frantically searched the dark bus for it to no avail (Robin found it the next day right out on the seat, I think it was hiding from me)
Austin was a dream.... we pulled in to the Tour De Fat and stepped out into 89 degree weather, and the Handsome Little Devils were in the middle of their show. I love them! They are the sweetest individuals and they put on a kick ass show. When they were in Portland I had the opportunity to give them a place to stay for a few nights and it was really fun to get to know them. (www.handsomelittledevils.com)
We then marched in and played a really fun set. We have been to Austin a few times and have always gotten super enthusiastic crowds, and this time was no different. I was so hot during the set, I couldn’t manage to cool down and it was making me kind of tired, but of course I managed to prevail.
Afterward we were hoping to go to this bridge that is famed for bats flying into it at sunset. Unfortunately we missed the bats…. I have seen the swifts in Portland and it is a sight to behold!
Between shows we went to our lodgings, Benny’s parents house. They have this amazingly gigantic house on top of a hill near the original Whole Foods. Our event coordinator Cory had dinner delivered to the house, pizza and salad. I ate mine fairly quickly and then took a quick nap before the last show. I knew I had a long ways to go this night, as I was planning on pulling an all nighter, I had a 6:30 flight the next morning. The nap though short, was totally revitalizing! When I woke up I felt as if I had slept for 2 hours! So then we were off to Antones, where our night’s set would take place. Our opening act was a really cool band and some burlesque dancers that were adorable and sexy. Before our set we decided to parade around the block to try to get the word out and gather more folks. The turnout was definitely skinnier than last time we were at Antones. The parade went pretty well, though there wasn’t a lot of band energy and it didn’t look good for the show to come. Everyone was pretty tired, and groggy from bellies full of pizza. When we got back into the club the energy stepped up a notch and by the time we had done a few songs we were smokin’!!!!! I had so much fun dancing, and the crowd gave back tenfold. It was a great way to end my stay with the band. After the show was over a guy named Jay invited everyone back to his house for an after party. It was another big beautiful house, though I didn’t get a chance to really enjoy the party, I spent most of the time packing up my stuff on the bus and changing out of my costume and into travel friendly clothes… I tried to imagine traveling at 6am in my make up and costume and it made me laugh! At about 4am I kissed my sweetie goodbye for another week and Jason and I hopped a cab to the airport. No sleep for the wicked! Ok a little bit of sleep. I managed to fall asleep at the Austin airport, on the first flight, at the Denver airport, and on the second flight! It made it all go by in a blur… one thing I did notice was it was at least 75 degrees when I left Austin in the middle of the night, and it was a flurry of snow in Denver, and a cool crisp fall day in Portland! It’s interesting that with air travel we can experience such drastically different climates.
When I got back to Portland I had a nice breakfast with Jazen, Robyn, and Tor, and slept most of the rest of the day away. When I woke up Peter and Bobek were over, and Peter had gone chanterelle mushroom picking and made for us his famous mushroom enchiladas… yummy!!
Today I was freezing all day! All around me folks were basking in the gloriousness of this beautiful sunny day… all is relative… don’t get me wrong, I think today was gorgeous but I was freezing to the bone! It’s all that tropical humidity I have been basking in (NOLA was 96% today!) I’ll have to get back into my Portland habits… long underwear, scarf, etc… there is a sweet sentimentality to the weather here in the fall, it gets me all excited for warm evenings at home cooking yams, watching movies, and eating cookies… yum!

Today was back to work, and it was a dichotomy of lovely and harsh. I came back to the news of 2 deaths; one a member of our burning man community and another was a patient of ours who committed suicide. Both affected me deeply. When I lived in Seattle we had a patient commit suicide. It is such an awful feeling, wondering if there was anything you could have done. Of course this thought is so non productive and there was probably nothing we could have done…none the less she was under our care so it’s hard not to feel a certain sense of responsibility. Could I have given her that extra attention or even a special smile? Let her know she was beautiful and wanted in this world? And how many people do you never know you saved just by doing a small thing? RIP Malia, I hope you are somewhere better. And Tiffa… such beauty you created and projected…and so many lives you have touched. Such a tragedy, you will be missed greatly in this realm.

Love to you all…. Until the next tour…..