March Fourth takes on Southern Cali

Captain's Log: Third and final blog for this leg of the tour.
I am on an airplane careening towards the home base: Portland. My heart is full, my mind is wandering, thinking, feeling, reminiscing. Best tour yet, because of Team Awesome! (That's all of us) The really amazing thing about this tour is that Team Awesome embodied all of us at different times, and I feel that we reinvented the word 'teamwork' for ourselves.
Last I left off we were heading towards San Diego, to play an underground speakeasy at the Barrio Warehouse, put on by Steel, a super amazing do-er.
We arrived in Encineda and we had a few hours to spare. Somehow magically through a friend connection (Thanks Bethany! And thanks to the magical world of Facebook and our March Fourth mobile wi-fi unit!) we ended up stopping off at this amazing house complete with giant pool and more importantly, a great hot tub. We relaxed there, swam and soaked in the rain and sun, and had the great fortune to see a beautiful double rainbow! Our totally awesome hosts cooked us a delicious and satisfying dinner that gave us the steam to power through the evening and in to the night. Thank you soooooooo much!
When we got to the venue it only took us a few minutes of unloading to realize that something was terribly wrong... we were missing a snare drum. Jenny Pancake's drum was definitely not on board. After carefully tracing our footsteps we realized that it went missing after our gig in Joshua Tree, whether it got left somewhere or nabbed we will never know, but we called the venue and it definitely was not there anymore. Boo! There were a few minutes of frantic searching, confusion, and anger but that quickly passed and luckily Aspen had an extra snare drum (He sometimes plays snare) so even though it fit her terribly and poked her in all sorts of weird spots, Jenny rocked his drum that night and we had a great show! The people of San Diego were great, and our host Steel even got up on his stilts (made by our stilters!) and danced with us. In a moment of synchronisity this giant satan puppet came out into the audience during Knightmarrika (written during the Bush era) Our spirits were great after that show and we met lots of cool people to chat it up with after the show. A couple people of note that we met were a woman named Gabry who happens to be the lady friend our our fantastic friend and New York host Mark Ettinger. Gabry ended up coming with us up to LA just so we could bask in each other's presence a little bit longer. Another beauty who followed us up was a woman named Clover, who turned out to be a rockin' lady and she became our satellite car in LA and drove people all around to and from the airport and other such missions. Thanks Clover! You have no idea how amazing a gift you gave.
After the speakeasy we headed over to the Tour de Fat Site, where we camped out because we had to play the bike parade kick off the next morning at 10 am. Since our heads didn't hit the pillow till after 3am that night, I considered just sleeping in my costume and make up but I thought better of it and washed up. Even if it's just a few hours, it feels good to be clean! The next morning cam early and the bike parade was kind of a haze but by the time our stage set came I was ready to dance! The show went over fantastically and I began to realize just how much I love to play the Tour de Fat shows! Each one we do is pretty much the same as far as the day goes. We wake up, do the bike parade for 20 minutes or so, then we have some time off to rest up or eat, then Dave Clay does some opening MCing and a guys dance contest as the bike parade arrives, then we get to check out the other acts which usually include the Handsome Little Devils, Sean Hayes, Nanda, and the Sprokettes, to name a few. At some point they do the Slow Ride where it is a contest to see how slow you can ride a bike and the last one to the finish line wins, they give away an amazing bike to some lucky winner, we play a funeral procession for a car, someone in the audience donates their car to charity and vows to ride their bike to work for a year and TDF gives them a RAD bicycle all pimped out while the Tires of Fire Choir (usually a combination of us and other bands there) sings "Higher and higher' and then we play our stage set as the closing act. The energy is always AMAZING there and we finish the day feeling tired, energized, and fulfilled. (And filled with as much Fat Tire beer we can drink) (except for me I don't like beer) San Diego was no different. Right after the show we packed up and drove straight to LA, we had a gig at the Eagle Rock music festival. Drinks service and dinner on the bus were compliments of Team Awesome, Andy Sterling. As far as the festival went, we had no idea really what to expect, and when we got there we found that we were one of many many stages competing for sound, and our stage was a puny little youth stage. The entire band had fallen asleep on the ride up and was still asleep literally 10 minutes before we were about to go on. We jumped up and patted our faces, were off the bus and tuning the instruments in a matter of minutes. While the musicians were warming up I stood in front of the bus and warmed up the audience with a little bit of double hooping. They loved it! They were definitely hungry for a show. When we were all ready we took a little marching loop around the block and gathered a crowd. We lured them back to our mini stage and had a wild dance party! They absolutely loved the show and were one of our most lively and enthusiastic audiences of the whole tour. Yay eagle Rock! It goes to show that you never know which shows are going to hit the sweet spot. Hopefully next year we can rock a bigger stage.
After the show we headed over to our residence for the night, the Mutaytor Loft called Theory Lab. It is a really cool area, there are a ton of artist live work spaces in this one big complex and a bunch of really cool and creative people reside and work there. Our host this time was Kevissimo, a super cool guy and great artist. He does photography infused with oil paint, absolutely stunning. I nabbed a couch and had an alright night sleep, and I continued to sleep until morning had passed. When I woke up I got a text from my friend Wally, who happened to be in LA on business ( His company does security for burner type events and LA Burning Man decompression happened to be the night before) Yay! I love me some Wally time! We had the day and night off and had been invited to a BBQ over at some friends of the band's house, Tonya and Arturo. So we headed over there and Wally met me there. We ate some ribs cooked to perfection by our lovely hosts, and then we headed out. Wally was borrowing his friend's beautiful Audi so we cruised LA listening to Beats Antique on an amazing sound system and I felt pretty damn good about it! Getting away from the band for a short period of time can be a saving grace. We went back to the Mutaytor space to visit some other friends, and ended up at a nice restaurant downtown eating gourmet mac n cheese. Heaven!!!!! After that I got to meet Wally's friend Mad Chatter and play with her two kittens. Heaven!!!!!!
When we got back to the band that night I felt so happy to see everyone, sometimes a little break from them I appreciate them even more! We were staying at Funky Bunny's house in Venice. THANK YOU FUNkY BUNNY!! She let us take over her entire house and front yard for 3 whole days! That night was pretty mellow, she has a little fire pit in the front yard and when we got there everyone was sitting around giggling. The next day we had mostly off and we walked down to Venice Beach and checked things out. It was fun to watch the skaters at the skate park and peruse the shops. The ocean was beautiful and rejuvenating. That night was our show at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. the Handsome Little Devils happened to be in town and decided to open for us. Their show was hilarious as usual, and then we were up! The show went smashingly, lots of familiar faces in the audience including Wally and Mad Chatter, Buck, Alfie, Joseph and Rosalie, Scott and Aumelina. As usual March Fourth masterfully sculpted the energy, starting out with a bang, bringing it up, down, up, down, up, down, up, up ,up ,UP!!!! And then riding the wave in with a sweet tune like Rise Up or the Finger. After the crowd's hearts are full to bursting, we join them in the audience and play with them up close and personal. ~sigh~ it's so amazing. After that show I think the band was more riled than EVER! So much energy swirling and spinning and teeter tottering to the brink of combustion! We headed outside and spent close to an hour carousing with all the fun people that had come to se us. Then a helluva wild bus ride back to Funky Bunny's, and there the wild ruckus continued on and on into the night until the wee hours of the morning. Everyone was so damned silly and I think we all fell in love with each other just a little bit more. It's like each uplifting experience tightens us up together one click at a time. I think we got about three clicks that night.
The next morning people were up surprisingly early and the silliness soon followed. Bunny pulled out an old costume bin and, well, a photo is worth a thousand word so I'll save my breath. The funny thing about Bunny's house it is contains all things bunny! Cups, potholders, etc.... I think it just calls for constant ludicrousness whenever you step over the threshold onto her property. We had a full day off so we deemed it art therapy day. Richard busted out his stencils and spray paint once again and the band commenced to spray bling all over any possession with enough blank space. Shoes, shirts, luggage, drums, jackets, pants,,, Aspen and Richard worked on Jenny Pancake's new drum and harness, respectively. Team Awesome! Luckily Bunny had a welder so Richard was in business. Aspen also took apart his bass drum and cleaned it, put on new heads, and painted it up, it looks beautiful! I headed back to the beach for a bit and enjoyed a nice lunch with Jason and a quick peruse of the ocean and shops again. Then for the final peace de resistance of the entire trip, John's old friend Paul came over with his guitar. Jason got out his banjo guitar and they sat on the living room floor for I think about 5 hours and sang every song they could think of that contained 3 part harmony. It was so incredible! I love these people! I love that I love these people! It was another 4am night but well worth it.
Today has been a flurry of packing up and airport travel, La Tisha and I are about to land in Portland, where we will commence with our city lives until September 28th when we fly out to New Orleans and continue this wild ride for another 2 weeks! This time Chad will be coming with, I am excited to have him on the bus and I hope he loves it! It takes a little getting used to and a bit of time to really sync up but I can tell you this, there is nowhere else on this planet that I would rather be than on that tour bus with that group of people. THIS is the time of my life.
I FUCKING LOVE YOU March Fourth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well my dear readers, it is that time again, time for the next installment of..... LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH MARCH FOURTH! First, go get a frozen hash brown and grill it in a panini maker. Now, find 20 of your closest friends and sequester yourself with them in a 8 x 40 space, and bring all your stuff. ok, lets get started.

Last I left off, we had left Earthdance in the wee hours of the night, and drove all night to San Francisco where we played the most awesome Tour de Fat show ever! The day was unusually sunny and warm for San Fran, apparently it had been pretty bad weather in the week leading up to it, so all the people were out enjoying the amazingly beautiful day. We were in Golden Gate park, surrounded by beautiful trees, with the ocean air fresh and breezy with no nip to it. It was a welcome change from the dusty hot grounds of Earthdance. I got to see a few friends that day, Eileen, Katherine, Peter, and Julianna showed up and cheered me on, as well as Amy Johnson and Tisina were both there! I haven't seen Tisina in over 2 years and she is one of my best friends! She has been living in Japan teaching English, and she just moved back to the states.
After our show we met up with our great friends the Lloyd Family Players. At this point we had some time off in the city so some chose to meet up with friends and peel off from the group. I would have loved to do that and you would think that I would have, being from around these parts and all, but everyone I wanted to hang out with was either out of town or not getting my messages. I ended up staying with the band and hanging out in Oakland at the Lloyd's warehouse, and it was fantastic! I got two nights of 10 hours of sleep, (!) I got to go to the Albany Bulb with LaTisha and our friend Marnie, and I got to have some wicked games of ping pong, practice with my hula hoops, have a great sushi dinner with LaTisha and Jeremiah, meet some new people, and generally feel like I was actually on vacation.
Monday morning we filled our water tanks and waved goodbye to Oakland, we were on our way to LA! We showed up in LA in the evening time, and were greeted by our fantastic hosts Buck and Noosha from Mutaytor. They just bought a house, complete with 2 kitties and a pool! We had to park down the hill from there house in the piss cave (freeway underpass) and then hike up a ridiculously steep hill with all our gear. (good for our noodly tourbus legs) Our first night there the Seagrams was flowin and everyone was having a rockus time out by the pool. I took a little bike ride with LaTisha to a burrito cart for a yummy late night dinner. It was nice to have the LA night time air whizzing past my face and hair. Awhile back the Tour de Fat guys gave us a couple of awesome bikes that ride on a rack on the front of our bus, and they have definitely come in handy on countless occaasions. The next day we didn't have to be to the venue until 3:30 so we had all day to lounge by the pool and eat a yummy breakfast. Richard busted out his spray paint and stencils and we had some luggage and t shirt decorating by the pool. Then it was time to clean up and jet down the mountainous hill to the piss cave to load up the bus and head off to the venue, the Edison in downtown LA. Holy shit! I had heard how beautiful the venue was but really I had no idea until I saw it. It was an underground club that actually used to be the Edison power factory, and they have converted it into a beautiful bar and club that is rustic and swanky, decadent, steampunk, and PERFECT for March Fourth! Perhaps one of the most beautiful clubs I have ever seen! We parked our bus in a nearby parking lot and I spent a lot of time out there before the show, practicing with my double hoops. I haven't been hooping a lot on stage on this tour, since the stages we have been on so far haven't really called for it. But I have kept my two mini hoops on board and have been practicing with them at almost every stop, it feel so good to be inspired and motivated to work on some new stuff.
Our show at the Edison was EPIC!! We had a great stage that allowed to band to feel totally connected to the audience, and also there was room for the dancers on stage. (A tiny bit more room would have been ideal but it was pretty close) The band was in great spirits before the show, John and Andy did an interview that yielded a witty and zany article (Floating around Facebook somewhere) We marched in and down the stairs on to the stage. We were to do 3 sets of 40 minutes or so, which turns out to be a great form for us. We had a little dancer pow wow with John and Jason, and we crafted the perfect setlist so that the musicians and dancers were all happy, and we even fit in a couple of guest dancers who did a hot little burlesque number. The first set the crowd was a little stiff, doing the old crossed arms head bob, but by the second set they were groovin and third set they were rockin out! I had many friends show up to this gig, which made me super happy!!!!!!!!!!! This was a special night for the Edison, once a month she flies in special guest bartenders that are masters of their craft. This month it was a guy form Miami and a guy from Oregon. They call themselves mixologists and they offer a small menu of drinks that they have personally created. The band each got one drink ticket (The drinks were between $10 and $15) so I ordered a drink with the intent to try a couple of sips and pass it off. I got a Red pepper collins. It was so good! I was having so much fun talking with friends that all of a sudden I looked up and realized that the band, who had just all been around the bar enjoying the fruits of the mixologists, had disappeared up the stairs and into the bus. i grabbed my hat and followed suit, making it onto the bus in the nick of time. We rolled out of there blissfully happy and artistically satisfied. When we got back to Buck and Noosha's the good times continued into the wee hours of the morning. I finally put in my earplugs around 4:30 am and the party was still goin strong.
The next day was a day off and we were going to spend it in Joshua Tree! We drove about 4 hours out of LA and made it to Lazer's house. he is a longtime friend of the band and has a eclectic ranch style house in the desert. His house seemed straight out of Fear and Loathing. He was out of town but let the band crash there for a couple of nights. Thank you Lazer! The first night we were there a group of people went out to Joshua Tree National Park to camp for the night, while a handful of us stayed behind at the house. I was part of the latter. We went out to a nice dinner, came back to the pad and chilled out, talking and laughing. I thought it was a fantastic night of group bonding and I got a great night's sleep with LaTisha on her air mattress. The next morning we got up early and headed out the the national park and have a day of climbing around the rocks of Joshua Tree. It was SOO AMAZING!!! The whole place is desert terrain with Dr. Seuss looking Joshua Trees all over the place, with HUGE outcrops of granite that look like they were deposited by an alien tribe. We climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed! The stillness there was profound. The silence was deafening, and the acoustics were wacky! You could hear a private conversation that was happening way across the desert. No secrets for THIS band! After a full day of play and a sunset in the desert, we headed back to Lazer's to get ready for the show. We were playing at a bar in Yukka Valley called Pappy and Harriet's. Nathan maneuvered the bus up a windy desert highway and just when we thought we were in the middle of nowhere, there appeared Pappy's. When we walked in the bar we were greeted with Trumpet Katie playing with her other band, Warsaw (She used to live here) she was playing electric bass and singing, and we all agreed that it was going to be a David Lynch sort of night. As it turned out it was not quite the right venue for us, there were about 10 people totally rocking out and about 15 more sitting off to the side watching the show. It was fun to play there but not economically viable and there really was no room for the dancers, but of course we made due and managed to rock the place down. After the show we went back to Joshua Tree and camped for the night. I took a solo walk around the desert floor and it was so jaw droppingly gorgeous! The weather was perfect, slightly brisk with an occasional warm breeze, full moonlight, and complete and utter stillness. I could hear every one of my footsteps on the gravel road, and every time I stopped all I could hear was total silence. The giant granite piles were standing majestically in the moonlight. You could hear a pin drop all the way across the plain. I must return someday!
In the morning, with the sun beating down, we packed up the bus and we are now headed for San Diego where we will play an underground speakeasy called the Barrio Warehouse tonight ,(not-so-secret password is TUBA) and the San Diego Tour de Fat tomorrow. The bus is mellow, everyone is playing on the computer, sleeping, or having quiet conversation. Gotta store up that energy whenever we can! We have some long days ahead of us. Until then, be well!