Living Life to the Fullest: 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.