A weeks worth of events

Wow, I started this weeks ago, but the last two weeks went by so fast.  For now, I'll post what I had up through Dallas, then finish the rest in another post.  Don't worry, now that tour is over it won't just be lame posts about me having to go back to real life.  I'm hoping to post entries with fan tips, things to expect if you ever want to go on the road, and other various things :)

I'm over a week behind due to the occurrence in the last post (now 2 posts ago...),  so this will probably be long, and I'll probably forget a lot.

Monday the 8th was our first day off since our unintentional day off when Kim didn't have a voice.  As mentioned in a previous entry, we spent it doing laundry and trying to catch up on things.  That evening we headed into Chicago.  We had dinner at an insanely nice sushi restaurant, then headed over to a jazz club called Green Mill.  My friend Jeff that lives in Chicago came to hang out with us.  It was awesome to see him, but I felt bad because it was a nice jazz club where they don't allow you to talk so everyone can enjoy the music.  So we pretty much just sat there, and it wasn't for very long because we were all exhausted, but I think Jeff had fun anyway :)

Second course of the Vegetarian Tasting

Tuesday's show was in South Bend, IN at a bar called Cheers.  It was another place that seemed like just a bar the happened to have bands playing that night.  After Otep's sound check they started playing house music, and the very first song they played was an Otep song.  Who plays Otep music at an Otep concert?  It was weird.  The whole night was really weird and merch sales were terrible.  I did meet awesome fan Joel who helped me tag a ceiling tile for OED, and we had one single VIP that night named Allison, who was going to be at the next 5 or so shows as well :)  That night was also terrible for my cough.  People occasionally started smoking not realizing it was a no smoking show, merch was near the back patio door where people were smoking, and as soon as Otep left, the entire bar was full of smoke.  One guy who was asked not to smoke earlier had 2 lit cigarettes in his hand.  Apparently he had to make up for lost time?  My head is pretty much un-stuffed, but my lungs are still full of crap and all of the smoke did not help.  I spent a few nights sleeping sitting up in chairs because I would cough all night long if I tried to lay down :(  But it keeps getting better and I'll live :)

Joel and My ceiling tile :)

While in this area we ended up going to the same coffee shop and Italian/Greek deli/market next door 3 times.  We stopped there one morning because it was our close to our hotel room and liked to so much that we went back the next morning as well.  Mike apparently liked it so much that he left his credit card there so we could go back the next day as well :)  I think it was called Busy Bee Imports or something, but I can't remember what city it was in our where I put the business card I picked up :(

Wednesday we were in Joliet, IL.   We were early so we stopped at a post office for shipping supplies.  Once we got everything loaded into the venue, Junior and Kim went to work getting some orders packaged up.  A couple of the people at this show ended up picking up their orders, and the rest that we got packaged up were mailed out Thursday morning :)  There are still a lot more to do, but the tour's almost over (boo!) so the rest should be going out soon.  One time when I went to grab someone's order for them, the door locked behind me and I was stuck in a back hallway.  I tried banging on the door, but that door opened to the stairwell, not the door directly connected to the area we were in.  So I had to quick run outside in the rain and come in through the front door.  Oh the adventures...

The crowd in Joliet was amazing!  This was one of the best shows so far!

Picture Me Broken

Kim's multiple arms

Killing Scorpions

OTEP!!!

Otep's multiple arms...

Jeff made it out to this show!  Just barely :(  He got there for roughly the last 2 OED songs, and he wasn't really into Otep.  If I had thought ahead I would have put him on the guest list.  I also met a fan who has been reading this and Mike's blog.  *waves*  I didn't catch your name though :(  He has some awesome blogs over here you can check out though!

At the end of the night, like every night, Otep came to the merch area to do signings and photos.  I clapped as she walked by, as I do every night when we have merch in the same area.  But this night, as she walked past me, she motioned like she was pretending to tickle me.  *fan girl faint*  Try to imagine tough girl Otep, wearing her spiked mask and crazy contacts, pretending to tickle a merch girl wearing a tutu.  It's impossible, but it happened, I swear!

Still doesn't make her less intimidating

That night after the show we had something like12 VIPs!  I think it was the biggest night yet.  Karl, whom I met at a VIP thing during the Orgy tour was there.  Jeff got to come along too and be an honorary VIP.  I rode with him in his car to make up for not getting to talk to him all night.  Plus it made room to let some VIPs ride in our sweet Sprinter.

Jeff's car has a folder full of cats!

The next show was in Rockford, IL at a bar that used to be a strip club.  Over all, I was not a fan of this place and kept getting a "we need to get out of here ASAP once the show is done" vibe.  At one point a fan came and told me he was really glad we came to their little city, but didn't understand why we were there.  He said that Rockford was something like the 8th most dangerous city in the US.  I looked it up, according to one list, it's not that high, but it is on there.  Then again, so is Battle Creek.  The night started out rough.  We got there late, as always, merch was weirdly set up on top of bar tables along a wall so I standing in the crowd.  Everyone's stuff kept going missing.  They were using masking tape with "Security" written on it to distinguish the guys that worked there.  One of the opening bands used a fog machine and filled the place with smoke.  At one point I went to run to the bathroom quick before OED went on.  It was a single restroom, the door didn't lock, and there were 6-8 girls waiting ahead of me.  By the time Otep went on I was pretty over this place.  I was also afraid of being right next to crowd during her set, so I hung out downstairs in the greenroom while Jason watched the merch.  That night we had 2 repeat VIPs, Josh from the Austin show, and Allie :)

Another reason I wasn't a fan of this place - because we were late, we did a super quick unload.  As I was setting up I realized that the vinyl's of Dirty were missing.  Luckily the limo was still parked out back, but all of the boxes and tubs we weren't using that night were packed back in.  There was a little gap just big enough for me to fit in, and the box of vinyl's were straight ahead.  They were packed between and around other boxes, so I really had to yank to get them out.  I managed to pull them free, but hit my head on the corner of the metal brace that goes around the storage part of the limo.  Ouchie :*(

Friday, on our way to the Spring Lake Park, MN was the drug search incident.  Despite everything we still got there in plenty of time to set up.  It was a weird bar though.  When we got there they were playing honky-tonk country music and doing a meat raffle.  In addition to a concert, they also had poker night or something going on.  It was a good show though.  VIP Jacob hung out with me when OED wasn't performing. We made hand puppets.  Kimberly gave Mike and I shout outs <3  She even offered 30 second make-out sessions with Mike with every CD purchase.  We sold a lot of CDs that night.  Mike however was busy breaking down gear and loading the van, so there was a lot of disappointed fans :(

Saturday we were in Waterloo, IA.  Merch was in back again, so I got really bored.  For some reason there was all of this Studebaker stuff on the wall next to us.

Can someone explain to me the connection?

I learned that Tristan was the one that put tape on the backs of the guys in Rockford.  He needed a way to tell them apart since they were just wearing street clothes.  At this show, he used neon pink duct tape.  He had me write "Security" on it because I have prettier hand writing.  One of the guys said "No drawing hearts or anything" so, of course, I did draw a heart on one.  I wish I had gotten a picture.  There was a guy at this show with a creepy split tongue.  He said he just had it done Sunday so he was still getting used to it and had a bit of a lisp.  *shudder*  Kim learned at our last VIP with Allie that she was hoping to get into concert photography, so Kim got her a photo pass for this show.  She got to be right up on stage to take photos rather than trying to take them while being shoved around in the crowd.  You should go check out her facebook page - Allison Lesch Photography!!!!  It was raining when we tried to load out at the end of the night, so we sent our VIPs, which we had quite a few of, to Perkins while Allie and I helped Mike load.

Sunday we were in Merriam, KS.  One of the openers did a cover of the Cranberries' "Zombie," which I found thoroughly entertaining.  There seemed to be a lot of technical difficulties that night.  Kim's guitar kept coming unplugged to the point that Mike just had to crouch there and hold cords together.  Even Otep was having issues with the mic.  It threw her off so much that she screwed up the end of one of her songs.

Every show Otep tries to get a walking circle pit going.  Sometimes they're ok, sometime the audience really sucks.  This show, they were amazing!  Definitely the best walking pit of the tour!  Over all, this was either a really good show and epic crowd, or I was really tired and had to be extra into it to stay awake.  Maybe a combination of both.

The next day was another day off, but a lot of it was spent driving to TX.  It was nice to be able to take our time though.  Jason stopped at the bank and across the parking lot was an awesome tea place, so we checked that out.  I had an awesome tropical tea with mixed fruit jellies in it :)  It was also really warm that day, so I wore a tank top.  We'd spent the past 2 days sleeping in the limo and I hadn't showered, so I shaved my arm pits with water from a water bottle while sitting in the limo.  This is the super glamorous lifestyle of a merch girl you usually get to know about :)

The sugar substitute at the Chinese place where we had lunch

Tornado forming?

After sleeping in a car for 2 days and not showering, we got to the Dallas area where we stayed at Johnny Zero's mansion.  Yes.  Mansion.  Kim and Junior live a crazy lifestyle.  Johnny Zero's another name I know from the One-Eyed Doll internet world, and it was cool to meet him in person.  We met up for dinner at a sushi place in his neighborhood.  Junior told him I was a vegetarian, so he ordered California rolls for me.  We got there, and Junior informed him that California rolls have crab in them (well, usually imitation crab made from fish).  I ordered some cucumber rolls though, and it all worked out.  Johnny told me to write all about it in my blog, so here I am, writing about it :)

The day we arrived in Dallas also happened to be the day Johnny Zero's CD arrived!  So in addition to just hanging out and relaxing at his house, we had a mini CD release party!  You should like his Facebook Page and check out his website because he's pretty awesome!

"This chair is a shoe!"

Kim's hair is the only thing holding this chair up

Foosball championship

Brian and Brian

Cheers to the CD release!

Tuesday before the show, we cleaned out and organized the van.  Junior picked up even MORE merch, and I sorted out what we needed for the rest of the tour so we could leave what we didn't need at Johnny Zero's.  Junior also wanted a full inventory count of what we were leaving there.  They left me there, went to set up for the show, and Johnny and I got to work.  Eventually it was about the time Johnny needed to leave to make the show. There were still a ton of boxes left, so I ended up staying.  I missed the show :( but we now have a full count of everything.

Don't ever tell Jason it's ok to store things in your garage.

SO MANY BOXES!!!!

Johnny said the show went really well, and he sent me some pictures to post.

Aaaaaaaaaand, that seems like a good place to stop.  I'll get to the last few shows of tour, which was had an awesome driver for, next time!  <3

A bit behind

It's been a while, so I just wanted to post a quick blog to let you know that I'm still alive.  The last couple of weeks of tour went by in a blur, and I've been busy trying to acclimate back into society.  Don't worry, I have lots of notes and pictures to remind me of everything that happened, and I'll post full blogs about it all.  At the moment Mike's been hanging out with me while Kim and Junior try to find a vehicle that will get them back to Austin, if they ever go back.  There's talk of the 3 of them going to stay at Sylvia Massy's studio for a while, but I'm at home now and have real life things I need to get back to :(

"Drug" bust

Everyone wants to know about the police incident, so I figured I'd write about that while it's fresh in my mind.

We were on the highway somewhere in Wisconsin.  Mike was driving, I was riding in the front seat, Jason and Kim were sleeping in the back.  We passed a police car in the median, but were going with the flow of traffic and doing nothing wrong.  He however saw the big black Mercedes Sprinter, Mike looking like a crazy hippie driving, and me still in my pajamas at 1pm with rock star sunglasses I bought at a gas station, and decided he needed to follow us.

We're totally Bonnie and Clyde

Based on everything that happened, I honestly think he started following us trying to find/make a reason to pull us over.  At one point about 5-10 minutes after we passed him, Mike went to switch lanes, and suddenly we're being pulled over.  According to officer Wozniak (I believe he was a State Trooper), Mike almost switched lanes into him.  Mike hadn't see him at all.  At this point I still naively thought maybe he was in Mike's blind spot and he had actually maybe almost hit him.  But as I said, just how everything else went, I think he purposely made it happen so he could pull us over.  He walked up to the passenger window, and asked for Mike's license and the insurance.  He also took the paperwork about the rental agreement, and it was mentioned that it was a rental in a discussion about insurance.  He asked about a piece of cardboard on the front dashboard that may have been "blocking" the windshield.  We explained that it was a picture Mike had bought for his sister, and we put it there so it wouldn't get crushed.  He asked where we were heading, and where we had come from.  Mike mentioned we were a rock band from Austin, TX.  I'm pretty sure this is when he decided he need to go back to run Mike's license and, more importantly, call for a drug sniffing dog.  Because we were a rock band.  He comes back, and asks us both to step out of the vehicle.  Mike gets out, but I have to put on my shoes and jacket.  I get out, and they're patting Mike down for weapons.  I walk back there.

Officer to Me: "Do you have any weapons on you?"
Me: "No, but there's a cookie in my pocket."

Yes.  That is actually what I said.  I'll explain later my reasoning for that statement, but for now, I'd like you all to think about how much of a ridiculous answer that was.

He pats down my coat a little bit, but I'm wearing 2 pairs of pajama pants and don't have any pockets to hide anything in.  I can't remember the order of things, but at some point he asks Mike the last time we were smoking marijuana in the van.  He answers honestly that we never have.  He tells us someone has, and at some point a guy gets out from another vehicle parked behind him with a drug sniffing dog.  The dog starts sniffing around the van.  Mike asks if he needs him to open the back end of the van where all the gear is stored.  He says it's fine.  Kim said from inside, she could see the officer do a certain hand motion, then the dog would jump up at a spot on the van and start barking a little.  The officer comes back and says the dog keeps getting really antsy on the traffic side of the road.  So, is the dog barking because of the traffic?  Because he can smell Kim and Jason?  Because the officer is doing a hand motion the dog is trained to bark at?  I don't know.  But officer Wozniak tells Mike and I we can sit in the back of his car to "get out of the cold."  As he's putting us in the car, he said something set the dog off at the front of the van and they need to search it.  I mentioned to him that Jason and Kim were sleeping in the back.  He gets them out.  He runs Jason's license, and we can see Kim leaning over whispering in the officer's ear and motioning to her throat because she's loosing her voice.  He comes back to the car, grabs a pen and paper, and she writes something down for him.  Over the next hour Mike and I sit helpless in the back of a cramped police car, watching Kim and Jason stand out in the cold.  We couldn't even get the other officer's attention to see if we could switch with Kim or give her an extra coat.

At one point I notice this little round thing in the corner of the ceiling with a wire running to the front seat.  I wondered (in my head) if it was a microphone.  Mike told me later that the thing I poked in the back seat was a microphone.  I hope they listen to the audio looking for something incriminating, only to feel like assholes listening to us talk about how of all the bands in the world, they pulled over the lamest, most straight edge band looking for drugs, and us talking about how bad we felt for Kim standing out in the cold.

After at least an hour, he comes out smiling with something cupped in his hand.  He goes and gets something out of his trunk.  Mike said he could see through the space that he pulled out a bin full of joints.  This leads me to believe even more that it's just his job to pull over people and harass them looking for drugs.  He gets in the front seat of the car, and puts what he found, -which was a LEAF from a TREE that either blew in the car or got stuck to someones shoe- in a little thing and shakes it up to test it.  It's not marijuana, but SOMEONE's been smoking marijuana in the van (according to him)!!!!!!!!!  I mentioned it was a rental we just picked up the beginning of March.  He acted like this was the first time he had heard this.  I even pointed out the rental paperwork sitting on his dash.  He ignored what I was saying and was all "Oh, don't worry, I'll give you all of your paperwork back."  At some point when I was in the back seat, he had handed me the paper he had given Kim, which now has her full name and birthday written on it, and asked me to write down my name and birthday because my license was back in the van.  He lets Mike and I out and says he's just going to give Mike a warning about unsafe lane switching.  We get back to the van, and he can't find me in the system and asks me what state I live in.  I told him I recently moved from Michigan to California, and gave him my drivers license to run.  Everything checks out, he gives Mike his warning, and he sends us on our way after wasting over an hour of our and his time, and tax payer dollars.  We get off at the next exit and stop at a truck stop to recoup. 

EVERYTHING in the van has been moved around, ripped apart, and/or thrown into a pile in the back seat.

Thumbs up if you've been violated by law enforcement!

Kim and Jason went in to warm up and get Kim some hot tea and something to eat while Mike and I tried to put the van back into some sort of order.  I had been keeping my stuff tucked into certain spots so I could always find it.  I had to hunt it all down.  I still don't know where one of my shirts is :(  The e-mail sign up sheets and my inventory lists were scattered all over the floor to the side of the seats where it was really hard to get to.  The picture we told officer Wozniak we didn't want to get crushed, had a corner bent.  The really awesome doll someone hand made for Kimberly had the head ripped off (probably purposely looking for drugs inside) and the base was broken off.  Luckily Mike managed to mostly fix it.  (Go Mike!)  As far as we can tell, all important stuff - wallets, computers, cell phones, etc. - are all here.  We also learned while this was all going on we all had the same fear - what if he plants something in the van?  Luckily he didn't.  So I guess things could have been a lot worse.

I was telling Shawn, the drummer from Picture Me Broken, about this at the show.  He said a few minutes after they passed us on the side of the road (we were all back in the van by this time), a police car kept following him.  At one point he drove up next to him and kept riding right next to him and looking over at him.  Probably the same guy, or another guy with the same job, trying to find a reason to pull them over or something suspicious about them....


So that's that.  At least all that I can remember.  And the cookie thing- we had been at Starbucks the day before.  I bought an Outrageous Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and Mike bought a tube of chocolate covered fruit pieces.  He stuck the rest of the tube in my pocket at some point, and I shoved the rest of my cookie in there was well.  So I had this awkward bulge in my coat pocket.  But, the next time you're having a bad day, picture me, on the side of the road, in my pajamas, telling a State Trooper that there's a cookie in my pocket.  :D
 

Abuse of Power

Dear Officer Wozniak,

Thank you for making Kim, who has a cough and is losing her voice again, and Jason stand out in the snow for over an hour.  Thank you for putting me and Mike in the back of your police car.  Thank you for throwing everything inside our van around.  Thank you for breaking gifts hand made by fans.  Thank you for bending the picture Mike bought for his sister that we told you was sitting on the dash so it wouldn't get bent.  Thank you for knocking the e-mail list and inventory sheets all over the floor of the van.  Thank you for searching the entire van, only to find a tree leaf on the floor, test it to learn it WASN'T marijuana, and let us go because there was nothing in our van.

Never drive through Wisconsin in a black Mercedes Sprinter with a Rock Band.  Lesson learned...

Actual update of the past few days sometime when I DON'T lose over an hour of my life to someone with nothing better to do than stereotype.

Back in Michigan!!!

My cough/losing my voice at the end of the night got better for a while, but it's gotten worse again.

Then about 3 days ago my snot turned bright yellow and we're petty sure I have a sinus infection. My cough has gotten so bad that the ribs on my left side hurt even when I'm not coughing, and it's super painful when I do cough. But, the show must go on.

I forgot to mention in the last post about the super awesome thing VIP Cory did! Towards the beginning of the Columbus show he told me he had all the merch he needed, but handed me $40 and told me to help out anyone who was thinking about getting a shirt but couldn't afford it. Thanks to him, 2 people have One-Eyed Doll shirts and someone else has a couple of CDs. Thanks Cory!

After Ohio we were in my home state of Michigan! The first show was at Harpos in Detroit. This is where I saw both Otep and One-Eyed Doll live for the first time ever. I'd been a fan of both for years and just about exploded when I found out they were going on tour together. I drove with a friend from Grand Rapids, MI to this show June 2011.

Me being all awkward and weird the first time I met Kim

The venue sucks a bit because the stage is an entire story above the crowd, and the merch is way out in the front area facing away from the stage. It got really boring and cold out there :( Junior brought me hot tea at the end though :D And I met super awesome VIPs Brad and Epiphany (who we later kidnapped). From where I was the audio also sounded distorted, but despite all of that, we were only $40 away from our bonus goal. It sucks that we were that close, but awesome that we still did that much!

At this show were my Michigan OED friends Dan, Mynka Doll (Jess) and Sean!

This guy asked sexy Kim to sign next to the sexy lady tattoo

Otep's meet and greet throne

For our VIP after party we went to Greektown! I was super excited because I'd made the 2 1/2 hour trip from Grand Rapids several times just to go there to eat at the New Parthenon restaurant and get desserts from the awesome pastry store near by. Sadly the store was closed, but we ate at a place called The Golden Fleece that was just as good and did the awesome flaming cheese thing. OPA!

(Jason hasn't posted the VIP pic on Facebook yet, or else I'd steal it and put it here)

The next show was in my hometown of Battle Creek! It felt perfectly normal being there, even though I haven't lived there in 7 years. We met up with my parents and little sister for dinner before the show. The show was at Planet Rock and I'd never been there the entire time I lived in Battle Creek. Some of the staff there was great, but some were REAL jerks. The show was pretty packed for being Battle Creek and a Sunday night, and despite a no moshing rule, the crowd was really into the show. At one point all four members of Picture Me Broken were head banging in rhythm at the same time. It was pretty epic and I wish I had a video of it. Kim wasn't feeling well before the show, and actual got sick right before they went on. She was super disoriented and out of it, but you couldn't tell by her performance. There were a few times, knowing that head of time, I wasn't sure if what she was doing was just part of her shenanigans or if she was going to pass out :( But she made it through that and meeting all of the fans afterwards.

Kim just killed all the scorpions!  YAY!!!  :D

Wizard Kim says "nom nom nom!"

That epic, Otep scream!

After the show we took our VIPs to one of my favorite late night hang out places in Battle Creek, Sweetwater's Donuts! They're open 24 hours, have a ton of awesome donut flavors, and (Junior's favorite) Fritter's as big as your head.  VIP Marty was at the Otep/OED show I was at in Muskegon the day after my first show at Harpos!

(Jason hasn't posted that VIP pic for me to steal either...)

Today is our day off. We were going to spend it in Chicago, but we're currently in Gary, IN doing laundry, getting new tires for the limo, and catching up on things. We've been trying for weeks to get out online merch orders. I even separated out all of the things I needed weeks ago, but it's either Sunday or too late by the time we have time to go to the post office. If you've ordered anything since they left for tour, it IS coming, it's just really hard to do from the road. And if you ordered a VIP, you should have gotten an e-mail about it. Just stop by the merch table with your receipt and I'll get it for you :)

Well, our laundry is almost done and this place is super creepy. Kim saw a commercial for York Peppermint Patties and went to the liquor store next door to see if they had any. She had a long discussion with the guy about Charles Manson because of her “Be My Friend” hoodie, and she was super creeped out. Then a washer stopped perfectly so the skull shirt inside was smiling at me. All the while there was an episode of Criminal Minds on the TV about a guy ritually killing girls he thought were the wives of Satan. So, we're going to go now! Audios!

Sickness

So many times the question has come down to Eating vs. Sleep.  Showering vs. Sleep.  Doing Laundry vs. Sleep.  Updating my Blog vs. Sleep.  Updating the Merch Inventory vs. Sleep.  Updating the e-mail List vs. Sleep.  Respond to e-mails and Facebook messages vs. Sleep.  Sadly, everything else seems to win over sleep.  It's been sooooo many days since I've updated (though I'm sure it feels like more than it actually has been) and a lot has happened, so I'm going to try to write as much as I can.

Our Springfield, VA VIPs, minus the one who took the photo

 I believe I left off with the NYC show!  We drove in on a gloomy, cloudy day, but we could still see the city and the Statue of Liberty in the distance coming in.  I think it rained just as we got unloaded too :(  The show was in the Studio at Webster Hall, which was like a crowded basement show.  Even though I was pretty close because the place was so small, it was too packed and dark to get any good pictures :(  But I tried

Picture Me Broken, it was Brooklyn's birthday!!!!

 

 Terrible quality video of Mike playing drums during the sound check

Otep passing out "Ghost flowers"

Kim did some EPIC crowd surfing during Committed.  The audience had her WAY up in the air.  All the while she was playing guitar, as usual.  When Otep started "Breed" the audience got crazy and knocked half my table over and 2 girls onto the floor next to it.  Side note, why do people think it's ok to set their drinks and things (ex: hats) not only on the merch table, but at times directly on the merch?  Display CDs are not coasters and if you don't want to hold your drink, don't buy one/sit at the bar.  I might just start picking them up and throwing them away when people do that.  Despite all that, it was a good night for sales, and I even made a random $9 in tips.  It's weird, I'm just doing my job, it's almost like cashiering at a retail store or something, but sometimes people give me an extra $2-5 and tell me to keep it.  I think this was also the show Junior had me do a free shot with him to kill the germs of whatever sickness we all had.

After the show we had a bunch of VIPs, including Tino again, Pat and Olga from the Committed Video shoot, and Becca, my friend from facebook I finally met in person!  Sadly we were both dumb and didn't get a picture together, but here's a picture of Kim and a group hug with her and Becca's friends :)

One of our VIPs had seen a promotional shot of Kimberly with a bunch of roses, so the first time he ever saw her in person, he bought her a bunch of roses.  On our way to the restaurant that night he happen to pass a 24 hour flower shop so he stopped and bought all of the girls in our VIP group a long stemmed red rose (as seen in the picture above).  Awwwwwww!  *swoon*

After the VIP session we stopped by the underground, 24 hour Apple Store at 5am.  I don't think I'd mentioned it yet because I was hoping it would turn up, but Mike lost his phone.  Junior and Kim talked him into getting a fancy iPhone.  They then surprised Mike by buying it for him.  I have the best employers ever, even if you don't take that into account.  :D

The above ground cube of the Apple store

Mike outside the Apple store with his snazzy new iPhone 5

The next show was supposed to be in Rochester, NY.  We've all been a bit cough-y and sick, and Kim woke up the next morning with no voice.  Jason made a few calls and they ended up cancelling the show.  They have never cancelled a show before, that's how serious it was.  Of course it had to be on April 1st so people thought it was an April Fool's joke at first.  Kim thought it was strep throat, so we went and got her some antibiotics and she spent the day resting.  They were supposed to have their weekly, from the road, radio show update in Pittsburgh that morning, but since Kim couldn't talk Junior handed the phone to Mike and I at one point.  So I think I was on the radio in Pittsburgh Monday morning.

We sadly had one pre-ordered VIP in Rochester that Junior refunded.  At the next show I heard from everyone about how she kept bitching to them about it.  I understand that she was probably really looking forward to it, and the more intimate interaction with the band afterwards is really awesome, but it's not like they cancelled the show because they just didn't feel like driving there or something.  Even if Kim had just played guitar and not sung because she had no voice, she said she thought she probably would have passed out on stage or something.  It's really selfish to put your wants over the physical health of someone you're supposedly a fan of.  If Kim had ended up in the hospital, you still wouldn't have gotten your VIP, and they would have to cancel more dates.  But again, I don't know her back story, and if she happens to read this, please don't comment or anything.  I don't want to know who you are because I don't want to already have a negative opinion of you if our paths ever cross in the future.  We're sorry you didn't get your VIP night, but Kim's doing a lot better because of canceling that show.

The Alter Bar in Pittsburgh used to be a church

The next show was in Pittsburgh.  Kim slowly warmed her voice up by talking more and more throughout the day and it was back by showtime.  Merch was facing away from the stage, but from what I could hear, Kim sounded fine and I couldn't even tell she had no voice the day before.  The DJ from the radio show we talked to was there and he brought a 10lb lasagna and some bread for us.  Junior made Mike and I do nasty shots of Jager before the show to kill germs again.  Either Jager doesn't taste as bad as it smells, or else my nose was really stuffed.  I don't have a lot to say about the show itself since I couldn't see it, but I did see the audience crowd surf Kim back to the merch table after her set.  It was pretty awesome!  And, just before Otep's encore, they called a guy up on stage and he proposed to his girlfriend.  That was pretty awesome as well!

Something I've noticed on this tour is no matter how nice, and big, and clean the bathrooms at a venue are when we get there, they WILL be trashed by the end of the night.  Stalls won't have toilet paper, except all over the floor.  The soap will be out.  They'll be crap everywhere.  Toilets unflushed.  I don't understand the phenomenon.  The one exception was The Alter Bar.  There was a bathroom attendant in there selling candy, making sure stalls were clean, keeping things stocked, and even turning on the faucet for you as you were coming out of the stall.  It's the only time the bathroom wasn't trashed at the end of the night.  It's sad that we have to rely on someone working for tips and can't just clean up after ourselves.  But I guess alcohol makes people do all sorts of crazy, stupid things.

At one point, I think it was on the way to Pittsburgh, I got to drive the limo for the first time!  It was only for like an hour though.  Junior switched me when we stopped for gas.  I don't think he liked that I kept going 80 in a 65 zone and occasionally tailgated people what weren't going as fast as I wanted to *innocent look*  I took turns slow though and was careful when traffic was slowing down!  We'll see if he lets me drive again...

The next show was at McGuffy's in Dayton, OH.  We ended up getting there about 15 minutes before doors because something was left at a gas station and we had to back track a half hour to get it.  We got everything set up quickly though.  I didn't have a good feeling from the audience and it seemed like a slow night. There were people there so drunk they literally fell flat on their faces, and usually that's a sign they spent all of their money on alcohol.  But we just barely made our bonus goal somehow.  We also had VIPs there that were VIPs in Atlanta and Norfolk.  One of which was Cory who brought us brownies and a bunch of pizza from the pizza place he works at :)

The show after that was Cleveland.  I was around a corner from the stage, and near a door to a room where other bands were playing, so I can't tell you much about the show.  There was food for us upstairs in the green room though, including a really cool Hydra (Otep's newest album) cake.  I think Mike said he got a picture of it that I'm going to steal.  He also got a few pics of thee 2 of us since we haven't taken any pictures together that I'm going to have to steal as well.

Our VIPs Steve and Chantel from a few shows got a a room in a really nice hotel in Columbus for the night we had a show there.  Well, one of Kim's good friends booked that room for us the night before too!  So we had this crazy awesome suit with 2 beds, a pull out couch, TWO bathrooms!!!!! for 2 nights.  Thank you all SOOOO much! We also stopped at a random gas station that had the nicest restrooms ever!  There were sinks in the individual stalls as well as in the main bathroom area, as well as a cushy bench seat.  The "family restrooms" also had cute tiles in them, but they're hard to see in the pic I took.

Oooooh!  Fancy!

Friday night's show was in Columbus at the club where Dimebag Darrell was shot.  Kim and Junior played Scorpion Death for the first time ever this tour!  I also made $10 in tips and a stalker.

And now we're in my home state of Michigan!!!!  I think we're getting close to the venue, so I'd better get ready.  Whew!  I think I'm pretty much caught up!