The Gathering of the Juggalos

After the first mini leg of mini tour, we had another day off. Again, mostly spent driving, with a stop in Chicago for some deep dish pizza. We also stopped at a place just outside of Gary, IN we’ve been to many many many many times that have “Galactic Burritos” (galaktoboureko, a Greek custard dessert).  Eventually, we made it to Thornville, OH a.k.a. The Gathering of the Juggalos! For those of you who don’t know, OED was invited to play this year, which is what this mini summer tour was scheduled around. For those of you that don’t know what The Gathering is, I’ll just refer you here.

We got in around 4am, and the people in charge of where the artist vehicles park were asleep, so they had us pull up along a fence just outside the artist area. 9-something they came and woke us up and had us move somewhere into the artist area. Then later, after we had fully woken up, we backed in side stage where we could load out directly onto the stage. Surprisingly, they let us park there all night. Asking Alexandria’s crew actually worked around us, and we could watch the whole night’s worth of shows from side stage if we wanted to.

They fit so many tents in such a small space

We had our merch spot starting at noon, but I don’t think we got there and set up until more like 2. With the exception of a couple of quick breaks and getting to watch part of OED's set, I spent all day/night at the merch booth until we left, sometime around 1:30am. Festivals are crazy!  It was a lot of fun though.

We weren’t sure what to expect going into it, and there seemed to be a lot of people trying to psych us out wondering why OED was playing The Gathering, and telling us to be careful. We went into it with a positive attitude and planning to do our best, and we had no issues. Some things were thrown during their set, including an attempt at an entire trash can, but that just kind of seems to be the thing Juggalos do. They throw things, they're rowdy. And actually, from where I was standing, people seemed to be upset at the people throwing because it was distracting them from the show. I didn't see their set, but I heard way more things were thrown at Asking Alexandria, and they may have even hit some of the members. I’m pretty sure we’ve been initiated into the family though. During the end of the set, since she couldn’t go into the crowd and play, Kim leaned back over the guard rail, where she (and her guitar) were given a Faygo shower. After the drum dive, the crowd started chanting “Fam-i-ly” and “One of us.” Kim did her “Everyone follow me” thing, and walked them all up the hill back to the merch tent. She was there for about 2 hours signing autographs before the crowd dwindled down and she left to change her clothes.

There were people I knew that were there! Aaron came just for OED’s set and to hang out/observe The Gathering. Matty, the bassist and merch moose from Psychostick, was there. Whitney Peyton played the night before and was still hanging around. I heard her and her manager were hanging out side stage, but her posse Sticky and Supreem came by the table and hung out. There were also a few other OED fans that were there for The Gathering.

Bubbles!!! (Photo by Aaron Plank)

I went in trying not to pretend to be one of them. I didn’t want to offend them by dressing like them or doing my make-up like them if I wasn’t one of them. But by the end of the night, I felt totally comfortable saying “Whoop whoop” back to people. (I even occasionally still say it, much to the dismay of the rest of the crew.) And, despite everything you hear about The Gathering, I was only hit on twice, offered free beer once, and offered "substances" on a couple of occasions. I'd say we had a pretty good first Gathering!

Summer is hot!

I completely forgot to mention last blog, we flew near lightning clouds when I was traveling back from Chicago. It was really cool to see from up in the air, but also terrifying knowing I was inside a flying metal tube…

The day after Denver we had a day off already. I honestly don’t remember what we did. Probably lots of driving, sleeping, stopped for food at some point. Oh! That’s right! We got Korean BBQ for dinner then later stopped in Des Moines and picked up some food from Zombie Burger. I was still full from dinner, so I just got a small salad I only ate half of, but also decided I couldn’t pass up finally trying one of their shakes. I got the “Tallahassee” which is vanilla ice cream, cherry Kool Aid powder, and a twinkie. It was good, but I only managed half of it and put the other half in the freezer for after the show the next night. Anyways, enough about food…

The second show of the tour was in Dubuque, IA. Somewhere we’ve never been before. The venue was this awkward, but cool place downstairs (luckily they had an elevator).  It was a maze of caves down there that I wandered before doors opened.

I scored a homerun, with 2 players on base, on this!

The show was a small, but fun one. The local band was a group of teenage boys, and female rapper Whitney Peyton was on the bill as well. She was also with us the next night in La Crosse, WI. I meant to get a picture of her show because she was awesome, but the second night I was hanging out in the crowd enjoying her show and completely forgot.

Load in at La Crosse sucked. Luckily we got there early, stalked some cars, and managed to park right across the street from the venue. Unfortunately, the stage is up 2 flights stairs and there’s no elevator or AC. We managed, but I think the show ended up being cut a little bit short. We also had some AMAZING VIPs that helped us load out. It was rough, but again, we all survived. La Crosse wasn’t all bad. It was an all ages venue with no alcohol. Instead, they had a wide variety of soda for sale. They also had cool posters all over the walls. I grabbed a couple of quick photos of some that I found interesting.

Junior had his own department

Kidney Thieves!

That 1 Guy!

The all ages venue had this centered on the wall

I also need to take a mini moment to rant. We stopped at Perkins (it was the only place open) after the show to replenish the calories we burned. One of the quarter machines had grumpy cat stickers! So I bought one. It was a sugar glider that had nothing to do with Grumpy Cat >:( Luckily Jordan has a friend that likes sugar gliders so I gave it to him.

The last show of this little leg of tour was in Minneapolis, MN. We had a group of awesome VIP fans come to all of these shows. You guys rock! While it wasn’t a new city, this was another new venue for us. This one used to be a bowling alley. The stage is set up in the pin area, and there are still lanes on either side of the “dance floor” area with tables and chairs. It was a pretty cool set up. I probably wrote about it in old blogs, but it’s been 2 years so I’ll remind you. We used to play at this weird bar in Minneapolis that always seemed to have poker going on in one corner while the show was going on, and they were raffling off steaks while we loaded in/sound checked. We made jokes about there being a meat raffle before we got there. Then they had these posted all over. (We played Wednesday night)

Another fun show and a lot of familiar faces. Again, the owner really liked the show, even had them sign a bowling pin for the club. Sounds like we’ll probably be back again! Which reminds me, if I haven’t already mentioned it, fan demand is really what gets a band booked. It’s like calling into a radio station to get your favorite song played. Call your local venues, tell them you’re a One-Eyed Doll fan and you’d love to have them play at their venue. Get other fans to call to let them know there are fans in the area and a demand for the show. Then maybe the next time OEDs booking agent puts out the call that they’re going on tour, they’ll remember all of you asking for them, and they’ll book them. La Crosse is a perfect example. It’s the home town of long time super fan, Jacob. He’s been telling them for a while that there’s an awesome all ages club they should play at. The club listened, and we finally played there this tour. It’s really you guys that make it happen.

I also saw my special helper for the first time in about 2 years in Minneapolis. There’s a fan named Chloe that we, and her photographer dad, would sneak into the non-all ages shows. There was one show where we were both wearing our hair in pigtails and similar skirt. I was mini Kimberly, and she was mini mini Kimberly. We hid her behind the table helping with merch to keep her from getting kicked out. She was a really awesome helper. Somewhere there are pictures of it. She’s all grown up and beautiful now. I think she’s mini Kimberly and I’ve been demoted to mini mini Kimberly.

Apparently Minneapolis didn't want us to leave. Junior had put the jacks for the RV down to level us where we were parked. We went to leave, and they didn't want to go up. It's a long story, but we finally got them up by jacking up the jacks. Lol. Then, after we finally got on the road, Jordan was changing in back when we hit a bump. He fell into the shower door, which fell off into the closet mirror and cracked it. The shower door went back on, we taped the mirror up and vacuumed up any shards of glass, and the crisis has been averted.

Summer 2016

The Summer 2016 mini tour has officially begun! Before meeting up with the band, I flew out to Michigan to visit family. My older sister and her husband drove in from Virginia where they live, and my Uncle drove in from Minnesota. It was really nice to see everyone. I won’t get into all of the craziness of flying there and trying to fly to the band. I’ll just summarize by saying there were LOTS of delays, a missed connection, rebooking, flying into another city, a 2 hours car ride, and about a 12 hour period where I had no idea where my checked bag ended up. But I made it, my bag made it, and we left for tour without any major problems.

Cali's coastline

Mountains in the ocean

Hello Mid-West

Bye Felicia, er, Chicago!

This tour we have Mike and Jeff again, but Ben unfortunately couldn’t make it. But those of you who make it to one of the shows will get to meet Junior’s long time friend Jordan, who’s guitar tech-ing for us these 2 weeks. They were in several bands together over the years, starting way back when they were 15!

As I mentioned, no major disasters leaving. We left early Friday morning (before bedtime). We made it to Salt Lake City for a late dinner and Junior found a Chinese restaurant he wanted to eat at for his birthday. The same complex had a Chinese market where we stocked up on some goodies.

We made it to Denver Saturday morning. Junior worked out an early load in time for us since it was the first day and there would be a lot of things to work out. So the crew was all up and ready to go by 11. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication somewhere and no one was there to let us in until 1. That gave us a chance to fully wake up, get some food, the boys wandered around a bit. Despite not loading in as early as we would have liked to, we got everything set up in a relatively short period of time and started soundcheck early. We even had some time to relax after soundcheck and before VIP, which rarely ever happens.

Over all, for being the first show, Denver was AWESOME! Sadly, the rest of the shows this tour have a lot to live up to. The venue we played at this time, the Bluebird was super nice. The sound system was great, and the staff treated us so well. The owner(?) loved us, the show, and the fans! He was amazed at how well behaved you all were :)

The 2 openers were both bands that have played with us before. Dr. Death + Mr. Vile and Glass Delirium. Great getting to hear them again!

Glass Delirium

A fan who had the whole crew sign his arm a previous tour now has our signatures tattooed on him!!!!!! That’s right, my autograph (it’s legit, I checked for the smiley face) is now a permanent part of someone’s body! Holy crap! I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I can’t remember his name! I was so awestruck and flattered that I didn’t ask :( If you’re reading this, please remind me what your name is so I can properly thank you. Also, you still have time to change your mind about the other thing we talked about. While I would be SUPER honor to be featured on your arm next to Kimberly, keep in mind that when ever someone asks you about it, you’ll have to explain to them that it’s the weird merch girl from a band you like :P

Anyways, great first show and the summer mini tour is off to a great start!

Trip down Pacific Coast Highway

Ok, I lied. I said in the last blog that I didn't have any photos from the San Fran or Sac shows, but I found these on my iPod. This was from the SF show. Chino and I were in such close quarters he accidentally sat on the sign on Kim's seat.

The last show of the Visions Tour was in Sacramento, which is about 5 1/2 to 6 hours from where I live. I talked Corey into coming up to the last show and hanging out for a bit, then we could drive down Pacific Coast Highway on the way home. Unfortunately, they had to do some maintenance on our apartment, and there was a list of stuff he had to take care of, by himself since I wasn't there, before they could do it. He ended up not making it to the venue until we were packing up, but he made it!

After we were all packed up we went and got some food.

Riggs' giant ice cream Sundae

Corey and I spent the next few days hanging out and sightseeing in the area. We went to Auburn to Foresthill Bridge, the highest bridge in CA and 4th highest bridge in the US. (I think Corey has all of the photos on his camera). We drove around Sacramento for a while looking for something to do. I got out my Founder's app. There was a little bar/cafe in the area that supposedly had Founder's on tap. It didn't, but we had a really good spicy stout (I thought I wrote down what it was, but I can't find it). We were getting hungry but having trouble finding something open late that was super expensive or bar food. I texted Junior, and he suggested a really good Asian restaurant. I can't remember what all Corey and I ordered, but it was all really good. I also had a Taro smoothie, and we got a mango egg puff for dessert.

We debated leaving a day early and going wine tasting in Carmel, but everything closes early, and I was still on tour schedule, so we decided to stick around another day and just relax. Corey hung out in the studio with Mike and Junior some while they recorded Mike's songs while Kim and I did some merch organizing/hanging out. That night we all went out and got FroYo.

Early the next afternoon we left, a bit later than we meant to. I was only supposed to take 10 hours (I planned for 12 with stops) and I didn't have to work until 11:45 the next day, so I had time to sleep in if we got in late.

The bridge in San Fransisco.

Alcatraz

Some crazy clouds.

The city

Crazy house (?) on a cliff along the coast

We stopped at a couple of look out points, but the coolest was the lighthouse/hostel we stumbled upon.

Freighter WAY out in the ocean

Whale watching! We were there at the wrong time to see anything

Whale bones

Giant whale vertebrae 

The lighthouse

Panorama of the ocean/shore

Panorama of the ocean/light house

We found a stairway leading down to a beach area. It was cold and gloomy that day, so we didn't hang out long or go swimming, but we did have fun climbing on the rocks. I'll have to see if I can find my video of the ocean.

Rock jutting out

Very tired Melinda

Weird thing on the hill. I assume they use to to tether boats.

"Whatcha looking at?"

Hello?

The lighthouse and hostel buildings.

Crazy waves

Eventually, as it was getting dark, we made it to Monterey, where we found a little British Pub we had dinner at. (They had a Founder's sticker on the back of the Women's restroom door!)

Corey and his new friend.

Of course, it was late and dark by the time we left. Along the highway, there are no street lights. There were times we weren't sure if there was land to the right of us, and a giant drop off into the ocean. We did stop at a look out at one point, and once you let your eyes adjust to the darkness, you could make out the white tops of the waves crashing below us. It was also a little scary driving because some of the curves are sharp and the signs say to go 15mph. If you go too fast you could fall off the side and crash into the ocean. And you're never sure if there's another car coming around the corner until you see their headlights. This made it take a lot longer to get home. We missed getting to see the Big Sur bridge because of the darkness :( I'm sure we drove over it without even realizing though.

There's also NOTHING around for miles and miles, except for the car/RV occasionally parked along the road. We were getting close to a little tourist camping town and we had about a quarter of a tank of gas, so we decided to stop. The pump was open, but they wanted $5.99 a gallon! We decided to try to make it to the next city.

We get to the next city. By now the gas light came on. The city is dark, and seems completely empty. The first couple of gas stations are closed. We cross our fingers, turn onto the main road off the highway, and hope that the only other gas station in town is open. It's super creepy. NOTHING is open. We see NO ONE. It's late, but you'd think you'd see at least ONE other car, or person SOMEWHERE! Or even a house light on. Nope. I swear we just drove into a horror movie. We pull up to the gas station. It's dark, but the screens on the pumps are lit up.

And they're working!!!!  Yay!  And it's less than $4. I have know idea if we would have made it to the next city and what we would have done if we ran out. So we filled up. We were also hoping to grab some coffee and use the restroom, but the actual gas station wasn't open. I do some searching while Corey drives, and there's supposed to be a really good donut shop coming up that's open 24 hours. I think I finally figured out, it was Sunshine Donuts in San Luis Obispo, CA. Sadly it's 3 hours away from me because the buttermilk donut was AMAZING, as the reviews said.  Guess I'll have to stick to the Donut Man. They also had coffee, but no restroom. So we went to the 7-11. Restroom was out of order, but I got a bottle of water. Next couple of 7-11's didn't seem to have a restroom either. We finally stopped at a travel stop gas station thing that had large men's and women's restrooms, but we had to wait for them to finish mopping the floors......

At one point we were driving and the sky up ahead was lit up red. It was the middle of the night, so it couldn't have been the sun. Eventually we drove past a sign for the California Men's Colony. There were so many lights at the prison, they lit up the entire sky.

Eventually, around 5am, we finally made it home. But, remember the beginning of the blog when I said Corey had to do certain things for them to do maintenance on our apartment? We got home, and we had to move a bunch of electronic stuff out of the bathroom before I could even use it after the long car ride. Then I had to put the bed back together before I could even go to bed. I ended up going to bed about 6 am, and had to get up about 10:30. I made it through work, but was exhausted! It was a fun car trip though.