Molesto, CA

Today has been a busy day off. Let's see if I can remember everything that's happened.

Sunday night the show was in Modesto (aka Molesto) CA. I've heard some stories from so many people about this city, and it didn't disappoint. I've also never seen security guards work so hard at a club before. It's then fitting that this would be the show to produce my first fan, even though I'm just the lowly merch girl. Just a heads up to the rest of you fans that may be reading now that Kimberly's been pimping my blog:

*It's really great to meet all of you guys, but if you hang around the table too much, it's hard for me to do my job. The main reason I'm there is to help out Kimberly and Junior. I man the table and sell their merch so they can do their thing. If you're constantly blocking the table or consuming all of my attention, it's hard for me to interact with people who have never heard of One-Eyed Doll before.

*We have a pretty tight schedule. I honestly don't have time to hang out with you after the show. Once a show is over, we pack up our stuff and head out to the next one. The only reason we stick around is for VIPs. If you want to hang out with me, buy a VIP package!!!   :D

*I know it's a concert, and a bar, but I'm technically working. Don't be a creeper and please don't try to buy me drinks. Would you want me showing up at your place of employment buying you drinks and hitting on you? Wait, don't answer that...

*Concerts are very LOUD!!!!! It's really hard to have a conversation. Sorry if I ask you to repeat yourself several times. I also wear earplugs whenever possible so I don't lose my hearing on this tour.

Back to the show...  The venue was pretty small, but Junior managed to weasel our way into the area Otep was selling their merch in.  That meant I got to hang out with my super awesome friends Tristan and Snausage.  It also meant that I interacted with Otep a few times.  I'm pretty sure I managed to come off as a normal human being and not a complete idiot.  *high fives self*

Opening bands tonight were Nothing but Losers and Level 12.  Level 12's lead singer did this whole Ring Side announcer thing that was pretty awesome. 

After the show, some new fans helped us load the limo and hung out for a bit since we didn't have VIPs for the night.  They were all awesome, but I can't remember everyone's name or I'd give you a shout out!  You know who you are though!

We spent last night in another WalMart parking lot.  This time Junior tried the floor and I slept in a seat.  It wasn't too bad except for the very first time I woke up and had cramps in both of my legs.  Apparently I was sleeping really weird.  It's also way warmer up there then down in the little valley of the seats.  Jason even snuck into WalMart in the middle of the night to buy another blanket because he was cold.  In the morning we found a Planet Fitness and all got super epic showers.  Planet Fitness is great because they're all over the country and pretty cheap.  We just went to shower, but they also have a lot of equipment to work out on if we ever have time, so we don't get squishy riding around in a limo all day.  If anyone reading this works for Planet Fitness, you should pull some strings and get them sponsored memberships!  *hint hint nudge nudge*

Kim and Junior enjoying a rock star massage

After freshening up, we went and got some awesome Pho and Vietnamese food at Modesto Noodles and Sandwiches.  Wow, I use the word awesome a lot.  This place was just a little local spot, but it had good food, reasonable prices, nice staff and a super cute baby.  Not to mention a beautiful tree outside.

Me giving my new friend a hug

Kimberly and her booty giving my new friend a hug

Just a heads up, we charge $2 for hugs.  Unless you catch us at a show, then we tend to give them away for free.

I used the drive to learn the OED e-mail list system and input the 100+ new e-mail addresses we've gotten at the shows.  Another tip, if you haven't signed up yet, please write SUPER clearly.  Any small pen stroke connecting letters can sometimes make things hard to decipher.  Is that a U or an O?  An A or a squiggly E?  If you think you'll be drinking during the night, sign the list before you get too sloppy!  (And please drink responsibly, have a DD or call a cab)  If you've signed up on the list at the past few shows and haven't gotten a confirmation e-mail in a few weeks, try going to their site and signing up because yours may have been one that was entered in wrong.  Also, filling in the zip code portion is helpful because then you can get specific updates to where you live.  If they're playing an impromptu show in Maine, but you live in Hawaii, you probably don't care.  It also sucks to find out the day after the show that they were playing just down the road from where you were sitting all night bored out of your mind wishing Kimberly was around to throw sweaty clothing at you.

It wasn't all work work work though, I did get this picture of a line of palm trees :)

Then about 4 hours later, we were where there was snow!  :(

I thought I moved far, far away from this...

 Then, we were in Reno!!!!

We had too much fun playing on the arcade games upstairs, but we each have a prize to show for our effort.  Mike also won a purple, flame patterned gecko stuffed animal that has yet to be named.  If anyone has any suggestions, feel free shout them out.  Speaking of Mike, if you haven't already, go check out his blog for another perspective on this tour.  You can find it HERE!  I don't have any pictures from inside the casino, so I'll have to steal them from everyone else once they post them.  After playing in that area, we went down to the real casino part and each chipped in $5 to play something.  We decided on Roulette and they had me put all $20 on red.  It landed on 13 black :(  Then Jason decided to play one of the slot machines.  We learned that Kimberly's nose is really lucky, but found that out too late :(  Over all we had a blast, and were smart enough to quit before we lost too much.

Lastly, we had a late dinner at the Grille inside Golden Dust West.  If you're ever in Reno, there's a super awesome waitress that works there named Daisy!  They also have huge eclairs.  

Aaaaaaaaand, now we're making our way to Salt Lake City, UT.  I'm working on making a facebook where those of you I meet on tour can get a hold of me, but it's almost 4am and I'm starting to catch my second wind, so I'd better try to get some sleep before I'm up all night.  

Nighty night all!

 

More sushi!!!!

Ok, it's the next day and I've gotten some sleep. Let's see what I didn't get to last night...

Merch sales went better than I thought. I didn't reach the amount needed to get a bonus, but it wasn't too far off. I think it's still a win considering they think there was only about half as many people last night as the night before. Plus being out in the entry way we didn't have as many people walking by between bands.

After the show as we were loading up, a girl from the show walked by. Long story short, her boyfriend got mad at her and left her there. She lived 45 minutes away and her phone was dead so she couldn't call anyone. We looked up the city and it was along the way, so she was our impromptu VIP for the night. We moved some of our stuff around so she had a seat, and we gave her a ride home. How many fans can say they not only rode in a band's limo, but they were nice enough to give them a ride home? I think we have a fan for life :) She was super cool and fun to hang out with, even though we were all exhausted and half asleep. She's a singer, and she sang along to some of the songs we played.

After dropping her off we went back to the same WalMart we went to 2 nights ago for some sleep.

This morning we went to a sushi buffet. I think I may have eaten sushi at some point every day since we left. This place had a normal buffet table with noodles, rice, fruit, etc, but then they had sushi on boats that went around in water and you could pick up what you wanted.

They could also make you something to order. They made me a super awesome, yummy veggie roll. Everyone tried it and thought it was better than some of the stuff they got :)

VEGGIE ROLL!

I think this is a dragon roll, but I don't eat fishies...

Ed is the best!

I completely forgot to mention last journal that Mr. Swimmy Socks was at the last show! Also, fan Jason who I met at the Whisy A Go-Go show (sadly not in the picture) was there too! He's super awesome and gave us a bunch of food and supplies. Did I mention how awesome he is?

Tonight's show was at the Senator Theater in Chico, CA.

It must have been a beautiful theater back in it's prime.

Another thing I'm excited about is seeing places like this.  The one down side was that the merch was set up outside the theater in the entry way.  Luckily from my spot I could still see inside.  But because I was separated I didn't catch the opening band's name.  Sorry whoever you are!  If you happen to come across this, let me know and I'll give you a plug!  An awesome thing about our set up was that when Otep came out after the show to take pictures, I was pretty much standing right next to her.  Plus all the fans had to pass by out table to leave, and most stopped to talk to Kimberly or pick up some merch!

Look how goooooood our merch looks!

 I still haven't really interacted with Otep yet.  Which is probably good.  I know I wouldn't crazy fan-girl out on her, but I'm sure I'd be all awkward and stupid.  But after being around more, I'll be more comfortable and hopefully just my usual awkward, stupid self.  Mike got to work out with Otep and her band mate today!  That's crazy awesome!

Later that night, doors open, people start filing in, and Ed shows up!!!!!!!

Side note, Ed ran into Kim and Jason at the coffee shop, but neither knew who each other were.  I believe Ed said he eventually realized who K&J were, but didn't tell them who he was in case they spilled the beans to me.  Now let me explain who Ed is.

Way back in 2001, another awesome musician Lennon released her first album.  I quickly became a fan, and spent a lot of time hanging out on her message board.  It was seriously the one place on the internet not full of jerks who hide behind usernames and most rude/mean/annoying comments.  I became friends with a lot of the other regular users, and even though the message board doesn't work anymore, I still keep in touch with a lot of them via Facebook.  Ed is one of those people!  When I first posted going on tour he was sad there wasn't a show near him so we could meet in person after knowing each other for over a decade.  But Ed is such a bad ass that he drove 6 hours from Oregon to come hang out with me at this show!  The rest of you'd better make it out!  (For the millionth time, tour dates can be found here)  And as you can tell by the hoodie he's wearing, Ed is now a fan of One-Eyed Doll!  So that's why Ed's the best and you all suck right now!  :oP

Well, we're getting close to WalMart and I'm ready for bed!  It is almost 5am!  G'night!  Er...  Morning?  Whatever...   Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

First Show Down

About 2:30am while staring out the window into the dark thinking, it finally hit me that this was all really happening. It was a bit overwhelming. This is going to be my life for the next month and a half! Living out of a sweet limo (which I STILL don't have pictures of), traveling to so many cities, and seeing concerts almost every night. Not to mention hanging out with 2 of my favorite people! And just so he doesn't feel left out, even though I just met him 2 days ago, Mike can be included in my favorite people too :)

As much as I like seeing all the scenery while traveling, I also really enjoy traveling at night. The roads are empty except for the occasional other vehicle, everything is so dark except for the lights of distant cities. Sometimes I wonder when I'm out at weird hours of the night why the other people I pass are out as well. Leaving an over night shift at work? Starting an early shift? Heading home from a vacation? Just now leaving the bar?

At some point in the middle of the night while stopped at a gas station we did a quick photoshoot of the new Shiny Chrome Happy Stabby Shirt . You should all go buy one because they're super awesome, and I'm not just saying that because it's my job :)  Sadly, they are only girl sizes right now, but there is a non-shiny non-chrome version too. If you get it (or any shirt) before March 20, you can use the super awesome code STABSTAB for $5 off ! You'll probably look better in it than the model.

I don't know what time we finally got into Sacramento. We parked in a WalMart parking lot and went in for a few things people needed, pillow, sleeping bag, etc. I also brushed my teeth and washed up for bed. We then found a spot out of the way in the parking lot we thought would be shady in the morning and tucked in for bed. I got what was probably the second most comfortable sleeping place, but that was mostly because I was probably the only person that could fit lying down on the floor between the seats. It took a bit to fall asleep, and I woke up a few times because I was cold. But when I was sleeping, I slept well.

There was a whole block painted Yellow, Green, Red and Blue!

Sacramento is Jason's home town, so he showed us around. We got to see the house he used to own, bought some Mochi (just regular, not ice cream), and stopped at one of Jason's favorite coffee places Naked Coffee.

Pretty flowers above the outside Patio

Pretty doggy we befriended

Unload time was at 1pm. We got there before everyone else and managed to get everything unloaded before Otep showed up. However, we couldn't set up any of the merch until we knew where Otep was going to be setting up their stuff. We spent the time setting up Jason's drumset and our awesome new banners, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. I also met some of the band members from Otep and the other band on tour, Picture Me Broken. I briefly met their singer, Layla Brooklyn Allman (I think she goes by Brooke), daughter of Allman brother, Gregg Allman! Once we knew where our spot was, Kimberly set up the table while I went through and took inventory of all of the shirts.

I got to listen to Otep's sound check while counting. That was pretty cool!

I expect all of this to be gone by the end of tour.  You all better buy a ton!

That's a LOT of shirts!

After everything was said and done, we quick ran a few doors down to have dinner with Jason's mom and sister. I had to leave a bit early to get back to the merch table when doors opened at 6:30. Right away, even before the show started, I sold a few shirts to fans!  I'm so excited to meet fans on this tour. There are some names I see online a lot, so hopefully I can put a face with the name. I'm also excited to meet the fans that love them so much they bought a VIP package. The packages are $100 or you can get 2 for $150 so you can bring a friend along. If you're coming to a show to see me, you should think about getting one HERE or at the show (we accept credit cards!) You get a super nazzy VIP pass, a piece of Kimberly's red sheet from the Committed video I'm in, and you can hang out with us in the super awesome limo after the show. You get some one on one time with Kimberly and Jason so you can tell them how super awesome they are. You might even get to come to our post show meal with us, especially if you want to buy us all food! We had one VIP last night, an adorable boy named Phoenix who's a super awesome fan!

The show last night went really well! There were 2 opening bands, Fair Struggle and Dead In Seconds I'm going to try not to say too much about the bands because I've been to some concerts with some pretty terrible opening bands (luckily neither of these 2 were!) I don't want to say anything bad about anyone, and I'm afraid if I talk up a band, but don't say anything about others, people might assume they're no good. So I figure it's just best to try not to say too much. Unless of course they're super awesome epic mind blowing like One-Eyed Doll. Then they'll probably get a plug.

Picture Me Broken was next, then OED!!!!! They did amazing and gained a lot of new fans. I really wish I had a tape recorder so they could here all of the stuff people say about them. People ran over to the merch table even while they were playing to grab some stuff. And as always, Kimberly and Jason come to the table to meet fans and autograph stuff after they play. The crowd was so big they had to tell them to go watch Otep and come back after. Otep was awesome!!! But I've been a fan of hers since her first album back in 2002, so I'm already a bit biased.

We did really well in merch sales too! I was told at the beginning that it I sold over a certain amount that I'd get a $10 bonus. At the end of the night, we were just short of that amount. But, Jason had given one of his friends that was there 50% off on his shirt and the 7 CD's he bought, so Jason guilt tripped him into buying another CD, so we were just over! Not bad for the first show! Apparently they only hit this amount twice last tour. There will be some dead shows though (there's a show Easter Sunday on this tour...), but I think we're going to do pretty well over all! While we were eating Jason announced that since I'm so awesome, whenever I hit my goal, Mike's going to get a $10 bonus too! He deserves it because I think he really helps sales too. I'm stuck behind the table where I can access the merch, and when he's not busy doing other important stuff, he hangs out in front of the table where he can interact with people more. He's also good at telling people about how the album Dirty was recorded with Sylvia Massy who's recorded Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a bunch of other cools bands that these fans probably like. Also, apparently she liked Jason so much that she wanted him to quit OED and produce music at her studio. I didn't even know that story before last night. So he deserves a $10 bonus as well.

Last night we stayed at the vacation home Jason's mom is currently renting. It's in a super nice, gated community and we almost didn't make in it. It's a long story, and this is already a long entry, so I'll post a link to Mike's blog if he end up going into more detail about it. But in the end, we got in. It was a super nice house with 3 bedrooms and lots of couches. I got to sleep in a super comfy bed last night! And took a real shower this morning! Thank you Jason's mom!

And now, we're on the road heading to Chico, CA to do it all over again! \m/

(Don't forget to check out tour dates HERE!)

On the way to Sacramento

I'm writing this from our wifi equipped "limo" as Mike drives down the road!  We've left LA (not too long ago) and are finally on our way to Sacramento for the first show tomorrow night!

They picked me up just before 4 today (Thursday).  I forgot to take pictures of the limo before it got dark out, so you'll still have to wait to see what we're traveling in.  We then went to the banner store to pick up some awesome banners they ordered for this tour.  After that we fought downtown LA traffic to make it to a fixtures store before close in order to get some grating and hangers to hang up t-shirts and display merch.  While driving around Kimberly and Jason made up a rap about bagels and socks, and Mike and Jason expanded on a rap they had come up with earlier.  At some point a video may be taken or new single released :) 

After the fixtures store, it was a stop around the corner to Little Tokyo.  We went to eat at Kula Revolving Sushi Bar.  Since Kimberly and I put our name in and waited while Jason and Mike found a place to park our gigantic house, we made them wait for our name to be called while we explored.  I hadn't been to Little Tokyo yet, so it was fun to look around.

At Kula, there's a conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant with sushi on it, and you just pick up what you want.

It's $2 each plate, and they just count the plates at the end.  Apparently we really like sushi.

Afterwards we went to Cafe Dulce, a coffee shop and bakery that Kim and Jason really like.  They had bacon donuts there

 And they made a pretty heart on my coffee :)

After that, we went and had Mochi ice cream.  It's a Japanese dessert with pounded sticky rice cake on the outside and ice cream inside.  They're like little balls of deliciousness.  I had the Creme Brulee flavor.  It was really good.  Sadly, no picture.  And now we're finally on our way to Sacramento!

Day 0

I don't have a very exciting update because I haven't left yet.  Kimberly, Jason and roadie Mike are here in LA though.  Kimberly had a meeting with Dave Navarro!!!!  (see picture here)  And a couple of other important thing she had to go to, so Jason, Mike and friend Rob (he's in the middle in the picture outside the Whisky A Go-Go) came and picked me up.  We went out to dinner, than came back and hung out at the apartment so Jason could say hi to Corey when he got out of work.  I got to ride in the totally awesome "limo" we'll be taking on tour.  I wish I'd gotten a picture, but it was dark out.  Hopefully tomorrow.  I also wish I had a picture of the cramped inside of their old van (which they drove from Austin to LA and it almost didn't make it) to show a comparison.  The rental van is SOOOO nice!  And roomy!

So tonight it sounds like they're all staying at Rob's house.  Then tomorrow they're picking me up for real (one more night to sleep in my own bed!)  We're going to shop for stuff to display merch, pick up some merch signs they ordered, and head off to Sacramento!

Killing Time

Saturday at 3:30 I was done with work until I get back from tour.  I don't leave until Wednesday afternoon.  So, I've had a lot of time to try to keep myself busy.  Luckily the weather has been beautiful. We had a few 80 degree days, one of which I wore a dress and a butterfly in my hair.

 

I also learned that a box of Girl Scout cookies costs $4.  Guess who had exactly $4 on her.

Damn you cute little girls and your delicious cookies!

 My car title came!  So I don't have to worry about that anymore!

I've also been doing a lot of cooking and baking.  I've made:

Chickpea Curry

Tiramisu and Nutella Cupcakes

More Cranberry Walnut Bread - No post cooking photo because I've been too busy eating it.

I also went out to my car one day to find this note on my windshield.

Then tonight I happened to remember it and asked Mary if she was still trying to sell her old car and showed her it.  She said Frank was the name of the guy that kept trying to buy her car, but wouldn't show up when they planned to meet.  She quick looked up his number, and it's the same guy!  We did a little google searching, and it seems like this guy buys cars and then turns around and sells them.  It was really weird that he'd been talking to Mary then happened to stick a note on my car.  He had no idea where we lived either because Mary purposely planned to meet him in a public parking lot.  Weird!

Other than all of that, it's just been triple checking to make sure I have everything I need, everything (rent, bills, etc.) is taken care of, picking up some last minute things, etc.  And just hanging out trying not to get too excited.  Oh, and fighting off what it trying to be a cold.  My nose started randomly running, just in the evenings, this weekend.  But sleep, immunity boosting stuff, tons of water, and eating a ton of fruit and healthy stuff has been keeping it from turning into a full blown cold.  Whatever it is, it's almost gone.  Just a bit stuffy.  Hopefully this is the last of it and I'll stay healthy the rest of the tour.  I'm bringing my zicam and immunity stuff with my just in case!

So, that's it!  Tomorrow's the day they pick me up!  After this entry, it'll be me typing from the road!