First stop, Ashland! We played in a place called the Inner Child, a café dedicated solely to children. The place is filled with playhouses and fun couches and things for kids to play on. The audience was lots of kids and lots of adults too… we marched in and play
ed a fun set, it kind of seemed like we were a cartoon band!After a restful night in an amazing house lent to us for the night by our gracious host Freddy, the original maker of Dagoba Chocolate…yum! (I personally had a more snuggly place to crash in Ashland) and bellies full of bacon and eggs we were southbound once again on the Mad Wretching Spam Boat, getting our sea legs back after a long land stay. We had a brief delay due to the fact that Russ, our trumpet AND saxophone player woke up with an unbearably painful arm, and he had to be taken to the hospital to get it checked out. He left with a diagnosis of nerve inflammation and was handed a cortisone shot and a bottle of pain pills and was sent on his way, $300 poorer. Normally not an ideal situation but the show must go on. Next stop, the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco. This show was particularly exciting for me because I got to see some of my best friends, Shalene, Cortt, Hilary, and Ryan. They had never seen March Fourth before and I think we put on a pretty good show for them! We played there with the Loyd Family Players, a post punk/ghettotech/samba band from Oakland, CA. We had played with them at High Sierra last year and instantly fell in love, so this show was a match made in heaven! After the show they let us crash at their warehouse space. This place was so crazy and amazing! There were so many rooms and each one had a totally different vibe. The main space was cement floored but there was art all around and super cushy beds here and there spread throughout the room. Upstairs was an elegant kitchen complete with couches to lounge on and a huge dining room table. Another room was all white, and looked like some sort of workshop. Through that room was a little set of stairs that led to another room clad in pink (this would be my room if I lived there, of course) and you could step right out of that room onto a balcony of sorts that looked over the whole space! After a somewhat restful night (ha!) we answered bus call at 9am and we were off to La La land…
When we rolled into Santa Monica we were all a little unsure of how this show was going to go. We weren’t really sure what our LA crowd looked like and LA on a Friday night has a LOT of options… also we were going on at 9, before a couple of hip hop shows! Apparently in LA when you come in to a club you say at the door what band you’re coming to see, and your cover money goes to that band. And people usually come to see their band, and then leave. Or don’t show up until their band is on. When we got there the place was empty, and that sight always makes me a little nervous.. the place was called the Temple bar, a beautiful dimly lit red and black velvet joint that felt very intimate and slightly spiritual with statues of Ganesh and altars all around. It stayed empty until the moment we came on, and then all of a sudden it filled up and there was just the right mixture to create some rockin’ energy! The dancers had to dance on the floor but there was a nice little dance square there that was just the right size. Ya know the ones, like the little wooden checkered dance floor you might find yourself on while rockin out to your favorite wedding Dj ☺
After the show we stepped out the back door to find that it was raining! This did not bode well for our upcoming weekend campout. We loaded up all the gear and got ready to head straight to Lightning in a Bottle. We had a parade at 12 the next day and figured it would be better just to get there rather than try to get up early and make the drive. A few M4thers stayed in the Temple Bar for a few minutes to catch some of the next band, apparently they were off the hook! I missed it because I was busy taking off all my makeup and getting warm, but I heard I missed out. Then we headed out and had a really fun ride to Santa Barbara, everyone a little tipsy and high off the energy we had just gathered. I spent most of the ride at a table with Dom, LaTisha, and Andy, discussing exactly what ‘cock blocking’ means and how to use it in context. The mobile party rolled into LIB around 3 am, where we continued our party at the gate while waiting for our passes and such. My friend Wally came to see me and we got to have about 10 minutes of hugs and love before he had to head off to bed, he was leaving the next morning for Flipside, the Austin regional burn. Rockstar!! After a long process of calling out names one by one and cheering (my name got called first, and I jumped up like I was on the Price is Right
…. And the mayhem, just got sillier and sillier), we got our bracelets and drove off to find our spot. We were parked right behind the main stage, a perfect spot! Most of us just did the things we needed to do and headed off to bed, we had to get up at a reasonable hour the next day. In the morning we were all a little bleary eyed for the parade, I think a few of us were even sleep marching. But it was a great hit, and an amazing way for me to first lay my eyes on the land and the festival! It was a really cool piece of land, wooded with oak trees and next to a river. Off in the distance there were beautiful rocky hills. The only thing that was kind of a bummer was there were little ground squirrels peeking out of their holes, and as cute as they are, I felt really horrible that we were invading their homes with rowdy people, cars, and extremely loud grinding bass till all hours of the night. Poor little things… I bet they are glad we’re gone now.After the parade we were free to do whatever we wanted until 8:00 the next evening. Our bus was parked right next to the Yard Dogs, some of our great friends! We shared a communal space with them and had meals together. This time we had Yvonne and Sabrina with us and they made us the most delicious food. The festival was out of control! I have never seen so many beautiful people concentrated into one space. And the clothing! The fashion was completely off the hook… the longer the festival went the more outrageous the fashion got, with people buying up stuff left and right and immediately adding it to their already multi layered leathered n feathered garb. Crazy. I managed to save my duckets, there was a LOT of stuff I wanted to buy but with no income flowin I didn’t really feel that it would be the best thing for me right now…. Pat pat pat (that’s my back) it was tough, easy to get swept up in the fashion frenzy of this culture.
The ambiance of the place was so beautiful, particularly the treehouse stage, a multi teared Dr. Seuss like treehouse dripping with Edward Goreyian found objects. When I first saw it I almost cried with joy over the talent, creativity, and imagination of our kind. And of course all the hot Dj’s were there, Tipper, Ana Sia, Glitch Mob, Bassnectar, etc… the place was goin off every moment of music hours. At some points there were hordes of tribally scantily clad ladies and gents on every tier and platform, dancing the glitchy writhy hot sexy feathery raw dance of this generation, and all I could think of was MTv’s spring break: counter culture….
Sunday evening we had our stage set on the main stage… we marched in playing SubSwarma, Luke’s new tune. We marched in acoustic and when the awesome bass line came in John was already on stage and played from there, it hit so hard and I think the audience all of a sudden realized what they were in for.. it was an incredible show! The band was on fire, the dancers had great space and lighting (makes all the difference) and the crowd was drinkin it up! For the first half they didn’t even dance, they just watched in wonder… then they started to get down and do they know how to get down! After our set Cirque Berzerk did a show at our stage and I became entranced in their awesome talent. After that I feasted my eyes and ears on Zilla, so nice to see them again and they had some great guest performers including Anahata, Kyrian, Lynx, SoulEye, and Spiral,
an AMAZING hula hooper that I had the great fortune to get to know a little bit. Sunday evening was sweet as Sunday evenings often are at festivals, probly my best evening there. Saturday night was a bit intense for me…. So many people getting so crazy, it’s a bit overwhelming.Monday morning early it was time to get back on the road and we spent 16 hours on our steed, heading north and bombarding gas station mini marts at various points along the way. Though exhausting, sometimes the bus rides are the most amazing and revealing aspects of our journey. This is where we REALLY get to know each other. I got to play a two hour round of Spades with Nayana, LaTisha, and Scarlett. And thank you Aspen for the most amazing massage, I needed it so bad.
Now I am back in Ashland, getting pampered by Chad and rejuvenating myself with lots of sleepin, lovin, and plenty of chai. I’ll be back in Portland in a few days and I look forward to snuggling with my kitty and seeing all my friends there! Hey, anyone have any ideas on what I should do next? I’m taking suggestions. I really need to start generating income!
Sadly, I have no pictures because I lost my camera on the way to Louisiana last month. There’s lots of fun ones out there though!
Special thanks to:
Aaron (AKA Breathalizer) for driving our asses around and all the many ot
her things that you did including helping me pour the 5 gallon buckets of pepper brew repeatedly into ½ gallon jugs ( I went around to camps and gave away cups of Mate Fire.. they loved it!)Yvonne and Sabrina for making us scrumptious food.
Robin for making me hula hoop on stage at LiB when I didn’t want to because I was intimidated by all the kick ass hoopers there.
Alix for making me the most awesome hat ever!!!!
M4 managers for keeping us in line and making sure we all got fed, etc.. you guys do amazing work, you are an inspiration.
Aspen for giving me said massage. Aaaahhhhhhhhh!
Chad for driving to Shasta in the middle of the night to pick me up so I didn’t have to camp in the rain on the last night when I was exhausted and filthy.
Until next time! (Reno 4th of July/High Sierra)
