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!