The Adventures of miss Hotfield Part II

Back on a plane again after a whirlwind weekend of wedding hullabaloo. The good news is, they got married successfully and everything went as planned. No inebriated ex answering to ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ or anything of the sort. Though I was pleased to see that two of Shalene’s ex boyfriends were there, relationships transformed from lovers to great friends. Great enough friends that they were included on the limited guest list… if I were to get married today I would have at least 3 ex’s there, if not 4. In fact I just went to an ex’s wedding last weekend, Jay and Elizabeth. What an amazing wedding! Visually stunning as well. Happy happy joy joy! And speaking of best exes EVER, I dropped Keith SriKanta Barefoot off at the San Francisco airport this morning, to head off on his grand adventure in the cold realms of Montreal. But back to the wedding. Shalene and Cortt got married in a beautiful redwood grove in the Berkeley botanical gardens. It was so amazing, the little girls in white looked like wood nymphs and Shalene was beautiful beyond words. The officiator was our friend Duane, who we met at Disneyland when we were 14!!! You know when you’re 14 and you go to an amusement park with your friends and you just recently got boobs and your hormones are flying all over the place so your real intention is to meet guys, never to see them again in real life? (ok fine I didn’t really get boobs till I was 16 but you know what I mean) (fine, I was like 18) anyway we met these three guys and one of them was Duane! He and Shalene stayed close all these years, being pen pals and visiting each other in their various cities. He now lives in Tacoma with his lovely wife and two kids and Shalene had a dream that he officiated so he did. It was awesome. Shalene was in a dress that she had made for her by a designer in Seattle, Chrissy Wai Chen. It was absolutely amazing, and parts of it were made out of her grandmother’s wedding dress, worn something like 65 years ago, and her Aunt also wore it 44 years ago. The reception was great too, and it was so wonderful to connect with so many old friends like Hilary, Lisa, Michelle, Amy Baugh, Carol, Katharina and Mike, Randy, and Susannah. And more. And of course it was lovely to have Keith as my ‘date’ and spend one last weekend with him before the big send off.
Meanwhile Robin and his band of Vagabonds have been all over California, down to LA and San Diego. This morning as I was driving back to Santa Cruz from San Francisco I was thinking of the Van making it’s trek all the way from San Diego to San Francisco. We were like ships passing in the night. Er, day, I suppose. Tonight they are playing at Amnesia in the Mission, one of my favorite stops along the way FOR SURE! And of course I adore Sol, the owner. I’ll never forget last time, no room for me to perform so he let me hula hoop on the bar. It was one of those great moments in life that are frozen in memory for good.
I spent a lovely day with my mom and dad (ok fine I slept on the couch most of the day) we visited my Grandma for an hour or so, and then they dropped me off at the airport to catch a red eye to NY, where I meet up with March Fourth… eek! I’m looking forward to it. I have a quick layover in Denver, and I’m hoping hoping hoping my bags make it on to the next plane, as this one was delayed and I’m going to have to run in the airport. If my bags come on a later flight I’m not sure what I’m going to do because we have a show in NY tomorrow night… I’ll just have to send positive thoughts in to the universe. By the time you read this my fate will already be sealed… (i don't have any pictures from the actual wedding right now... i guess i was too busy)

The adventures of miss Hotfield part I

Sitting on a plane again, this seems to be a regular thing for me lately. Well truth be told, last weekend I almost screwed it up beyond repair…..since I am not going on Vagabond Opera tour this time around, I decided to go down just for the Santa Cruz show. Visit my mom and dad, see my sweetie partway through tour and play with my favorite eastern European operatic bohemian Balkan klezmer cabaret band at a great venue in Santa Cruz, the Kuumbwa jazz center. Well when I checked my itinerary the night before I realized OH SHIT!!!!!!! I booked the flight for OCTOBER 27th, not SEPTEMBER 27th! Who does that??? Well to my credit I think I was booking the flight from a hotel room in Boise after a VO show and on my way to Burningman… and I was booking another flight at the same time, the other one going from Portland to Oakland, Oakland to NY, and Austin to Portland. Give me a break! Well in order to fix my ghastly mistake (the night before the flight, mind you) they wanted $80 for a transfer fee, and the fare had gone up by a mere $130. So I said, never mind. I suck. Oh well, now I can go to Bend with the Groove Bomb, that sounds fun too! But Vagabond Opera had other plans for me. At 2:00 the next day they decided that I simply must be at the show so they shelled out the $210 and 7 hours later I was sitting on the runway. Thanks VO!! I like to think that I’m sooooooo important to the band that they would fly me down same day, disregarding the fact that they were staying at my parent’s house and their promoter and radio host is an old family friend who knew me when I was in diapers….they get the special treatment Santa Cruz cause it’s ‘Amy’s boyfriend’s band’ oh and how Santa Cruz loves them! (us) who doesn’t?
So I had a weekend filled with fun and sun and roller coasters and seaweed and sweet love and mom’s lasagne and butterflies (monarchs, of course) and, Vagabond Opera. The show was spectacular. The Kuumbwa jazz center is a really great listening room. Not much room for dancing but the crowd is listening to every little detail. I kind of like it that way, there are so many intricacies that get lost in the jumble of dancing. I think both have their place, really.
So Monday morning I came back to Portland for a week (or so ) of work, and now I am back on a plane again, headed down to Oakland for Shalene’s wedding. I’m a maid of honor! And what an honor it is, my sweet best friend since 2nd grade. ~love~
Then Sunday morning bright and early I depart Oakland and drop off Keith (SriKanta) at the SF airport… he is off on an adventure of his own, to Montreal to train for 6 months with Cirque Du Soliel, then he’s off to Macao China to be a part of a stationary show, for 2 YEARS!!! I am so excited and proud of him, and I am blessed to be the ONE who gets to send him off at the airport. Then I drive back to SC to meet my parents, and they will take me to San Jose to get on a red eye flight to New York to meet up with March Fourth. I get there at around 6:30 in the morning and the band won’t roll in to town until around 5 that night, so I am going to go over to my friend Stefan’s house in the meantime… yay! Blissful haven with my hula hoopin cutie!! I am excited to be in New York, even if it is just for a day. We’re playing at the Knitting Factory Monday night, sounds fun.
Well, it looks like I have to ‘prepare my electronic device for stowage’ I think flight attendants just make up works like ‘stowage’ and ‘deplane’ but you know what? I’m cool with that.