Busy Bees, buzz buzz buzz

MIKE!  Stop reading my blog!  You chose not to come, so you don’t get to know what fun you’re missing out on.  Wait, no.  Make sure to read my blog so you know exactly what fun you’re missing out on!  Like, um…  That one time when it rained pancakes and $100 bills.  Yeah.  That totally happened *shakes head matter of factly*

My last blog ended at this cool, grungy Vegetarian/Vegan hippie punk cafe called Hard Times Cafe.  The other coffee shop we were at closed, but this place is open until 4am, had wifi, and we all had some work we needed to finish up. Trying to navigate the downtown-ish area and finding parking was a bit difficult in an RV pulling a trailer, but we eventually made it there.

Looking over the menu, the Seitan Philly stood out.  I had to order it because being a vegetarian, I usually can’t eat a Philly Cheesesteak.  Kim ordered the Biscuits and Mushroom gravy because the Yelp reviews said they were really good.  Her plate came and there were at least 4 HUGE biscuits COVERED in gravy and topped with diced tomatoes and green onion.  Both dishes were really good, and I ate way too much,  They also had gigantic muffins for only $2, so I picked up one for breakfast the next morning.  It was amazing a well.

I understand that you can be at a disadvantage without the internet, but aren't statistics
like this usually about illiteracy rates or starving children?

The next night we were in Des Moines, IA.  Des Moines has some weird curfew/multiple show thing that do.  Last time we were there, I think it was still light out when the last band (was that the Polkadot Cadaver tour?) finished.  This show was about the same.  Doors were at 4:45 and the first band went on at 5.

Cool Dragon place down the road

Bee!

The first band did a ballad!  That’s something I never see from an opening band.  Usually they want to be high energy so the crowd is into them. If you loose the crowd’s attention, they wander back to the bar, talk to friends, etc. I find it awesome and brave of them to bust out their ballad.

The second band was cool, except their lead singer was a bit much.  I feel like every other word he said was an obscenity, and he was way too “in your face.”  For one song, it started out instrumental and featured their bass player.  I was actually really enjoying it, until the lead came up beside him and did the whole, watching him, nodding along, “way to go, bro” thing that leads feel the need to do.  Just let him have his moment. If anyone from that band reads this, I’m sorry.  I don’t mean to be mean or tear apart your show.  And stage presence/engaging the audience is really important! You were just a bit much for me, and I personally think you should tone it down.  I’m just one person though, so feel free to take it worth a grain of salt cut in half :)

The third band was a 2 piece!  Just a guy on drums and a guy on guitar and vocals!  Not as epic and One-Eyed Doll, but still pretty cool!

The original promoter for the show went home sick, so they called in some other promoter.  It was the same guy from last time we were here! The girl that helped us load in also helped last time we were here. It was a different venue, but I guess they go where ever the work is?  Anyway, the promoter is a really nice, friendly guy.  He just gets super excited and doesn’t understand personal space sometimes. He seems like a great guy, but after ND I’m a little weary of people I don’t know touching me.

This show I didn’t really get to watch much from the audience. It was a small place, and it was pretty packed. It’s fun seeing what’s going on from the back though. OED goes on.  Fans make their way towards the front, and other people aren’t really sure what to think.  Then Kim starts rocking, the bar clears out, and everyone’s up by the stage.  I took this opportunity to run to the restroom while no one was hanging out by merch. While in the restroom, the crowd sounded SO loud.  I don’t know if the acoustics were just right, or the crowd was just really loud, but it sounded like an arena full of people.

Which one is Kim and which one is the Viking?

Special little helpers

There was also so much fog the in venue from our show, you could see my lasers at the merch table.  Usually it just makes dancing red and green dots on the shirts, but with the fog back there, you could also see the beams of the lasers.

At this show, I wasn’t a bumble bee, and most of Kim’s stage dresses needed to be washed, so she wore a yellow dress. Before fight when she is usually a police man (or unicorn) she was a bee, and threatened to sting everyone (with her stinger that was actually a pointy princess hat).  During the part of the song where she sings “Am I crazy?” then says “no” she instead said “Buzz” :)  Aaaah, Kim is great.

Kim's foot up in the air as she digs a hole

Why does making friends have to be so very hard? :(

We had a nice amount of VIPs that night, we all fit comfortably into the bus.  Brandon from CO who just moved to IA made it.  He was kind enough to stock us up on tea (His website isn’t up, but if you’re interested, you can contact him at firststeptea[at]gmail.com - I didn't put the @ symbol in so spam bots won't find it) Tony from KS made it again too.  We also had a few newcomers, including Cinderella who works for Artix.

At one point during the VIP party we were talking about sarcasm and how sometimes the audience doesn’t understand Kim’s jokes.  When suddenly from Jr’s pocket Siri said “I’m sorry, I didn’t get that.” It was perfect.

Since we were in Des Moines, IA we obviously had to stop at Zombie Burger. Damian decided for his first ZB experience to go all out and get the burger with fried mac and cheese for buns. It may have been a mistake.  It was a beef burger with bacon on it, so I couldn’t eat it, but I tired some of the mac and cheese and it was really good.

The burger

Damian's ready to take on the challenge

I don't think it's going to fit in Kim's mouth

This may have been a horrible mistake

Next we were on to Pontiac, IL.  On the way to the venue there was a guy riding a lawn mower down the shoulder of the road.

I mentioned when talking about Colorado Springs a VIP that reminds me of my friend Ian.  Apparently he has multiple doppelgängers because he wasn’t the fan I was thinking of.  Troy who was at the show in Pontiac was the Ian look-a-like I was thinking of.

There was only 1 local opener at this show, and Wild Throne was no longer playing, so doors opened 2 hours before the show started.  Not cool.  I tried entertaining fans as best as I could, but I also had some business to take care of while I was at a venue with wifi.  It’s a long story, so feel free to skip this next paragraph.

The tour ends Sept 13th in Austin, TX with a big homecoming show for One-Eyed Doll.  It’s going to be epic.  We have a ton of fans/previous VIPs driving and flying to Austin for this show.  Don’t quote me on any of this, but it sounds like the VIP after party might end up being a giant house party because we’re going to have so many people. So it’s going to be a looooong night, and the day after will probably be spent sleeping.  The the next day, the 15th, it’s our VIP Cory- who’s flying in for the show’s- birthday.  So Kim and Jr are taking him out for some real TX BBQ.  I don’t want to take time away from that, so I’d been stressing out a bit trying to figure out a flight home.  Originally I told work I could be back to work the 16th, and there’s a certain someone back home I miss, but I don’t want to miss out on all the fun.  So, on a whim at the coffee shop the other day, I looked into ticket prices from LA to Austin and back.  They were crazy cheap. And I texted MY Corey, and he was able to get a few days off of work.  So at this venue while I had wifi, I booked a flight for MY Corey to Austin, arranged for former roadie Mike to pick him up at the airport, bought him a ticket for the Austin show (Jr said it’s probably going to sell out), and booked us a flight home!  YAY!!!!  I’m so excited!!!!!  :D

Ok, back to the show.  Before the show, while I was setting up, the owner came up and told me how excited he was that we were there.  They’d sold like 15 pre-sale tickets, which isn’t a lot, but they’re usually not a pre-sale venue.  They also had tons of people calling in asking about OED, and wanting to make sure it wasn’t sold out because some of them were driving from 3+ hours away.  Even though we’d never played there before, he was really glad to have us because there had been so much interest!  Thanks fans!

Because of the set up, I wasn’t near the stage for the show and didn’t get any good pictures. It was a fun show, and obviously based on what I said above, there were a lot of awesome fans! I don’t know if it was fans distracting her or what, but Kim forgot the words to Scorpion Death at one point :P  She also put on a jester hat and put her hair on her chin like a beard and pretended to be Rawrb (Rob) from Psychostick.  Then she started doing Matty’s moose antlers with her hands so she was both Rob and Matty and was like “Who am I?  I don’t even know.”  I explained that really badly, but it was hilarious.  Guess you just should have been there.  Then she made the audience quack at PS.  Kim’s tub of stage hats was near by, so Rob took her Pope hat and put it over his hat.  Then pretended to be Kim and started singing “la la la la la la” like she does.  I did manage to run up a get a sort of ok picture of that.

Lots of VIPs that night, many VIPs we had already this tour, and a few new.  JJ, an artist I’ve mentioned before that usually sees us at Mojo’s, finally got to be a VIP!  We also had another VIP first.  Long time VIP Norm proposed to long time fan/girlfriend, Jessie!!!!!  :D Congratulations! After the proposal, to make things a little less awkward while they had their moment, Kim busted into “Water Song.”  I got a little teary eyed during it because it was a song I’d listen to while I was going through some stuff a few years ago.

“I had to be torn limb from limb
Thrown to the ocean learned to swim
Slowly my fins grew into wings
Now up in the sky this bluebird sings”

We also had a VIP who’s birthday was the day of the concert, and one who’s birthday it was after it turned midnight at the VIP party.  So we celebrated 2 birthdays.  We also had a very unique request for the acoustic show.  Norm somehow found out about Jr’s old band from way back in the day, Operation Milksnatch.  He requested “Circadia” by them, which Jr played and sang.

Next, we were in Cleveland, OH for the Day & Night music festival, which Mushroomhead jumped onto!  Psychostick was somewhere else playing at a different music festival.  I usually wake up with one of their songs stuck in my head, this particular day it was “Obey the Beard,” and it was sad knowing I wasn’t going to be able to hear it.

The last time we were at the Agora Theatre was the second to last day of the Mushroomhead tour. It was December and somewhat cold in there.  When we were slow I’d run over and stand by the heat vent.  This time was completely opposite.  It was SO hot in there!  I’m pretty sure I alone drank 10-12 bottles of water.  Luckily we stopped at a gas station on the way and picked up a couple of cases.  Quick note to fans - water is greatly appreciated!  The venues are supposed to supply us with a case of water for each show.  2-4 go on stage for Kim and Jr during the set.  I use 4 to make Emergen-C water for Kim, Jr, Vaughn, and Damian to stay hydrated and healthy, and on average, I’ll drink 2 while stuck behind the table all night.  Whatever’s left over (if there is any) is used to drink on the road, make coffee/tea, VIPs, etc. Sometimes clubs like to screw us over.  Like in Fargo when they gave us a 15 pack to split between Psychostick AND OED.  That’s 15 bottles amongst 9 people.  Not cool. So if you ever want to bring something useful, we can never have enough bottled water, or big jugs of water to use for coffee/tea. Back to the festival...

Michelle and Tosha from Escape the Silence came!  Always nice to see them! :D  Super fan Mike and his brother, Bill, came.  Mike had Bill pimp out his car before the show:

Mike is way too sweet and brought tons of gifts. He saw my post on Facebook the other day about missing out on buying a Grumpy Cat stuffed animal, so he showed up to the venue with one :P   Thank you so much Mike!

YAY!!!!

Grumpy Cat does not approve of your happiness

See that sweet OED shirt Mike’s wearing?  His brother Bill made that too!

Dan also brought me a gift.  He somehow managed to find a Snork toy.

See the resemblance?

Thank you again Dan!  Did Kim and Jr tell all you fans to be so awesome, and nice, and bring me gifts, and spoil me and stuff so that I can never leave them?

Kelly Rosner, the photographer who took the picture featured on our new “Purple Haze” shirt and poster was at this show, along with Aaron Bordner who drew the picture on the “Pao!” shirt!  *bows down* We’re not worthy!

No pictures from the actual show because this place was PACKED! And did I mention how hot it was?  I had to take a break and sit in the air conditioned RV for a while so I didn’t pass out. Mushroomhead and OED we both playing on the smaller stage, and it was so packed people were hanging out into the lobby area watching.  Then for whatever reason they had some band playing in the hallway area stage.  There’d been bands there on and off all day, but you’d think they’d stop once the band that was originally headlining, and was now main support, went on.  People in the lobby were SO mad. They were trying to enjoy OED’s show, even though they couldn’t see, and suddenly couldn’t even hear it.

When Mushroomhead went on it was just as packed, but there were no other bands playing so I could hear them.  I recognized so many of the songs and really missed touring with them :(  Over all, despite being hot, did I mention it was hot? Everyone had a great time!

Speaking of being hot, there was one point I took a potty break and there was a girl on the bathroom floor, head over the toilet, with her friend fanning her.  I don’t know if she was sick from just the heat or if she drank too much :(  Luckily OED has such amazing fans and everyone took care of me.  Several people brought me cups of ice water, and everyone kept stopping by to check on me and make sure I was ok.  You guys really are the best!  Sometimes I really wonder if all band’s fans are as great as OED fans, or if we just got lucky :)

Speaking of fans, there were a lot of them at the VIP party!  Many return VIPs from this tour, once again.  Thank you guys for continually coming out to support the band and hang out with us :)  Sometimes, like that night, I’m not sure how we fit everyone into the bus for the Acoustic show.  But we did, and it was fun.  Kim kept playing her pretend whammy bar on the acoustic guitar. Kim is super amazing, awesome, and fun.  *Fan girls*

We kept trying to end the VIP party because we had a long drive to Knoxville, TN, but everyone was so cool we kept taking pictures and hanging out outside.  Kim even signed Mike’s sweet car!

Eventually we did take off and the boys somehow managed to get us to the venue.  We got there, and according to my computer, it was only 4:30!  Sweet!  Kim’s doing a thing for the underaged kids at 6, doors aren’t ’til like 7, so there’s plenty of time!  Nope.  My computer hadn’t updated since we switched time zones.  We got there at 5:30, Kim had just woken up, and she was supposed to do a meet and greet for the kids in a half hour!!!!!  Now, about this meet and greet thing...

If Kim and Jr had their way, all shows would be all ages.  Actually, I’ve heard them talk about it, and if/when they do a headlining tour, it’s going to be right in the contract; All shows all ages and no higher ticket prices for kids under 21.  But, at the moment, they don’t have that say.  So you have venues like in WV that change it the day before so they can make more money selling alcohol.  Or like this venue in TN...

The show was booked as 18+ even though there have been all ages shows in the past. People started complaining about their kids not being able to come.  Jr said they should contact the venue (who was making it sound like it was the band’s fault), and even included a link they could send for another show that was there and all ages. The venue/promoter/guy who runs their Facebook page/whoever contacted Jr telling him he needed to stop telling his fans to harass them.  I’m sure he was exaggerating, plus, that’s how things (should) work in life.  There’s an issue, if enough people get together, they can change it.  But this venue/promoter/guy who runs their Facebook page/whoever wasn’t going to change and didn’t like people contacting him to change.  So they decided they’d do another meet and greet thing for kids that couldn’t get in.  Then the venue/promoter/guy who runs their Facebook page/whoever decided to take it upon himself not only to post that they’re doing a meet and greet, but that they’re doing an acoustic show! Not cool!  So, if the venue says it’s going on, does that mean we can do it IN the venue?!?! Of course not. Not only that but the venue/promoter/guy who runs their Facebook page/whoever made it sounds like THEY worked out a solution.  Nope, Kim and Jr worked out a solution.  The venue did allow the kids in before doors to buy merch.  Kim didn’t want it to seem like they had to spend money since they did a free meet and greet though, so she gave them 50% off.

It’s awesome that they do these meet and greets for kids, but it really sucks for Kim.  It’s hard enough on her voice to do a show, then talk to all the fans afterwards. And then she does the acoustic show for VIPS.  So days she has to do a meet and greet before hand, she’s actually doing 3 performances, plus a TON of talking.  Not only that, but once we finally got the kids out, they opened doors.  So Kim was stuck at the table greeting fans for the beginning of the show.  Eh, stuck is the wrong word.  Kim loves meeting fans, but this day was a little stressful because she was suddenly thrown into all this without being fully prepared.  I was super rushed too.  I threw everything out on the table for the kids, and was still trying to set up/organize while people were coming in and trying to buy stuff.  I didn’t have any of the re-stocking done, so half my shirts were missing, etc.  Over all the beginning of the show was a bit hectic for everyone.

There was a guy who was either the owner or promoter who did seem really thankful that Kim and Jr did the meet and greet. Also, we luckily had the day after this show day off so Kim could rest her voice.

Once the rush and stress was over, this turned out being an awesome show! The fans were great.  I especially like it when they get Kim’s jokes and laugh out loud at them.

My fancy silhouette photo :)

This show I ran back and forth from watching the show, to doing some organizing/paper work at the merch. Because of this I was stuck kind of in back, and there were these stupid, hopefully load bearing because they were in the way, beams blocking my view.  Some of my pictures turned out really blurry because of the fog and distance.

When I first came up to the stage, it smelled like vanilla!  It reminded me of the FAQ on Emilie Autumns “Opheliac” CD.  One of the questions is about when it smell like on stage. Emilie says it smells like stage fog that’s slowly killing them all, and vanilla.

Moo.

The lights at this venue combined with our lights made for some epic-ness.  I don’t know if you can really see it in the photos.  So instead, here are some pics of Vaughn dancing on stage with a unicorn and dragon:

Here’s Kim with Klaus of the Scorpions. He sure does come to a lot of shows, doesn’t he?

There was a girl in the front row who’s birthday is was.  She was so excited and into the show the entire time.  Kim kept making references to her to.  She LOVED it!  It was great.

Lots of professional dance instructors in the venue tonight too:

I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but here’s one of our dance instructors slow dancing with a unicorn.

I think the end of the show was the best.  The birthday girl’s energy spread to the entire front and center area.  Everyone was super responsive and into the show.  They were all up there rocking out.  Kim even tried a bit of crowd surfing, for possibly the first time this tour.  It ended up being more of a her leaning back and people holding her up, but it was still epic.

Something weird I had at least 2 separate people ask is how much it costs to have Kim sign something.  I guess they’re used to people charging to meet them and have something signed?  I don’t know.  If you want to buy a poster or something to get signed, that’s cool.  But as you fans probably already know, Kim does pictures/signatures/hugs/ etc for free.  She even throws out stickers for everyone so they can have a memento and/or something to get signed. I always find questions like that so bizarre. Maybe they saw OED at an Otep show where Tristan makes you buy something to get signed by Otep?  *shrugs*

I also feel the need to mention new fan/VIP Darren.  I’m going to be slightly embarrassed if he reads this, and hopefully I don’t embarrass him.  I believe he said he just found out about OED a month and a half before the show.  He was SO excited to be there, and SO excited to get to hang out with us at the VIP.  I don’t think I can even convey the pure joy he seemed to have.  It was super adorable. 

And that's all for now!  Gotta go do some "work" :D