What happens in Vegas, Goes in my blog

Friday morning the One-Eyed Doll RV came and picked me up to start tour.  The drive to Las Vegas wasn’t too bad.  Some interesting sites along the way:

Best RV decoration ever!

Solar Panel Field in the desert.  Hard to get a picture of.

Throughout the dessert there were falling apart, sun bleached signs and billboards along the roads.  A lot of them said “Gafe” and “Aware” on them.  I kept seeing those 2 works over and over again.  Sometimes the rest of the sign would be faded and broken, but “gafe” or “aware” would be clearly readable. Riding through the desert seeing it over and over again, I started to wonder if it was some sort of crazy illuminati conspiracy or something.  When I have more time with internet access I want to see if there’s anything online about what it may actually be.

Another crazy thing driving through the desert to Las Vegas, it would be just desert land for hours, then suddenly you’d come across places like Primm or Gold Strike (?) we passed.  You go over a hill, and suddenly there’s this whole little casino town in the middle of no where.  Primm had a roller coaster, Outlet Mall, Hotels.  Then once you passed, it was back to desert land for hours.

Once we got to the venue, Vaughn and I got to work on my least favorite part of touring - organizing and taking inventory of all of the merch. *insert super unhappy Melinda face here* Running around moving heavy boxes in the NV heat makes it even less fun.  But at least now we’re mostly organized for the rest of the tour.

The first show was at a little dive bar off the strip called, not so coincidentally, The Dive Bar.  While there I met the guitarist form Black Death, the first Black Metal band from back in the 70’s. One of the openers was the local band iRie. They were super sweet girls (and I’m assuming guys, but they didn’t come to the table) and I wouldn’t mind seeing them again the next time OED comes through Vegas. The whole show was hosted by Enigma. We got a photo together and I told him he had to look cute so I could look super tough.  This was the result:

Later in the night, organizing was done, table was set up, I had a chance to talk to fans and One-Eyed Doll took the stage.  When it hit me.  I've really missed doing this!

Over all this show was WAY better than the last Vegas show.  There were more people in the crowd, the crowd was more into the show, there were more OED fans there, and sales were WAY better!  Kim even managed a little crowd surfing. Way to go street team for promoting this show!  Jeremy and Handsome Rob were at this show.  I also got to meet Kim’s friend Chris and a bunch of other awesome VIPs.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to hang out with the VIPs much after the show because I was loading up, but I really enjoyed talking to all of them.

Saturday we had a day off in Vegas. We did some shopping for equipment and odds & ends we needed.  Kim wanted to do some costume shopping, and we ended up at this random little costume shop. They were so helpful and nice.  We even got to go see some of the actual old showgirl costumes and other things they had in the back.  That place was so cool, but also made me want to go home right then and make costumes.

That night we had dinner and spent time with Kim’s cousin and his family that recently moved to Vegas.  They were more than hospitable and their little girl is SUPER cute!  She played with Kim for hours.  It was adorable.

And now I'm sitting in the RV, in a parking lot, somewhere in Colorado.  Tonight's show is in Grand Junction, Monday Colorado Springs, and Tuesday Denver!  There are a few of you I expect to see at at least one of these shows!

One Shirt, 3 Ways

The first time I went on tour with One-Eyed Doll, they debuted the Girl's Chrome Happy Stabby Shirt.  On the drive to Sacramento, we stopped at a gas station in the middle of the night to fill up. We also had a photo shoot for the website.  Since then I've toured with them multiple times and accumulated several shirts.  Wanting to spice up my wardrobe for the upcoming tour, I put my costuming stills to use and jazzed up 3 of those shirts.

1. Chain weave and center braid.

There are so many tutorials out there on how to do a t-shirt weave or braid.  This shirt combines both; first the weave down the sides then a braid down the center.  Here are a couple of excellent how-to videos:

2. WINGS!!!!!!

Start with a piece of paper the size of the back of your shirt.  Fold it in half so your wings end up symmetrical. Draw out the basic shape you want for your wings in a few separate pieces.

Separate the wings into smaller pieces.  Keep in mind that, like carving a pumpkin, you need spaces to keep it held together.  Don't make the in-between pieces too thin or they might just rip through, and don't make the holes too big or you might end up with weird floppy parts. Also think about how gravity and the stretchiness of the shirt are going to affect the design.

Cut out the holes and decide where you want your wings positioned on your shirt.  I ended up spacing the wings out about an inch on each side. I also decided to get rid of the inner top and bottom long pieces because they made it look more like a butterfly than wings.

Trace your pattern onto your shirt. I turned my shirt inside out so any markings would be on the inside, just incase. Most markings will come off in the wash or with some light brushing.

Make sure you like how it looks, then carefully cut out the holes with a sharp pair of scissors.

Turn it right side out and wear it like the awesome fairy/angel/demon you are!  I've also seen a lot of skulls, but you can make so many other designs using the same idea.


3. Laced Sides

I took a picture of the finished product of this, but you can't see much from the head on view, so I'll just skip to the tutorial.  This one was by far the hardest for various reasons and because of this, I don't have photos of some of the steps.

Start by figuring out how much extra space you have to work with on the sides.  I first tried pinning the sides while on my dress form, but the pins came out when I tried in on myself.  In the end, I ended up using safety pins so it wouldn't come undone, and just pinning it while it was on me.  I started by pinning at the ribs, narrowest part of the waist, then at the curve of my hips on both sides so it was evenly spaced.  I then pinned along the entire side on one side.  I sewed a few stitches along the armpit and bottom cuff so the shirt wouldn't start to fall apart when I cut it.  I cut off the side that was fully pinned, then used that piece as a pattern for the other side.  If you want more of a gap when it's laced up, cut further into the shirt.  Sorry I don't have pictures of this, it was kind of trial and error at this point.

For the next part, I used some grommet/eyelet tape I had leftover from a costume I made years ago.  I believe I bought mine on eBay, but you can find it on so many websites and in many fabric/craft stores.  Or, if you're feeling really adventurous and/or already have the tool, you can just make your own row of eyelets along the shirt.  Just make sure they're evenly spaced, and I'd recommend reenforcing the edge of the shirt with some sort of boning or interfacing.  If you're going the easy route like me, line the 4 cut sides of your shirt with your grommet tape.  Make sure the grommets are lined up front to back, and at the same places on each side.  Pin the tape in place with the right sides together.

Since t-shirt material is stretchy, you may have to pull the shirt as you pin.  It may look like the tape is bulging when in a resting position, but as long as you keep the shirt pulled while sewing, it'll all work out in the end.

Sew along the edge of the shirt.  Be careful your sewing machine foot doesn't get caught on the grommets.  If you only have a standard sewing machine, I recommend going over it a few times to make sure it's not going to separate.  If you have a serger, serge along the edge for extra reinforcement.

Fold the grommet tape out flat and tuck it back under the shirt at the armpits.  Sew along the armpits and bottom cuff so the tape stays in place.  Then, lace it up!  I found some black shoelaces on clearance for 99¢ so I used those.  You can also use fun colorful shoelaces, ribbon, etc.  You can even change out the color depending on your mood.  You can lace top to bottom or bottom to top.  Make knots, make big bows.  Since I had 2 shoelaces for each side, I laced from the top down to the middle,  then from the bottom up to the middle for a cool effect.

When I have more time, I'd also like to do something with the neckline of this to give it some more flare.

There are so many variations you can do with this.  You could just do the bottom half of the sides, the entire back, a random angled section along one collar bone, etc.  Instead of leaving the gap open, you could sew in a contrasting color of fabric.  Come up with your own ideas and let me see them!

BONUS!!!

Here are some other shirts I've altered.  Unfortunately since they were done in the back of the Sprinter on the first tour, I don't have step by step photos.

Logo tank-top: I cut the bottom and sleeves off a One-Eyed Doll logo shirt.  On the inside (again, because of marks) I found the center, then measured 3 even spaces on each side of it.  I drew lines of equal lengths at each interval, following the curve of the neckline.  I then simply cut along the lines.  The gaps are created by the stretchiness of the shirt.

Side ties: I believe this shirt was a left over, size large, and I wanted something a little more fun and form fitting.  First I cut off the neckline, being careful not to cut off the One-Eyed Doll logo.  This created a fun, boatneck that sometimes when moving becomes a fun off-the-shoulder 80's look.  I especially like wearing this shirt with a bra that has hot pink straps :)

I think I cut even spaced 1/2" strips along the sides of the shirt.  I started a few inches below the armpit and ended at about my hip.  I simply cut those strips in half, then tied the 2 halves together.  The pictures don't do this shirt justice.  It's super awesome.

So that's it!  There are so many ways to alter a simple t-shirt.  I'm looking forward to seeing you guys on tour and seeing what you've done with your shirts!

Blog? What blog?

Wow.  I'm really bad at this blog thing.  I should force myself to sit down at least once a week to write SOMETHING, but I'm lazy and that's time I could be napping, watching Netfilx, or eating something covered in butter and/or cheese.  Plus, I was without a computer for quite a whole, but now thanks to my tax return, I have a beautiful, refurbished MacBook with retina display :)

Summery of my life:

The end of the One-Eyed Doll tour went well. Hopefully I'll have time to write about all stories I have and post pictures/videos. There were a lot of awesome VIPs, but VIP/friend Brad gets special mention for getting a menu from the diner he took us to. I had something called the "Grilled Cheese Egg-splosion" and they coat their mozzarella sticks with cool ranch Doritos.  The menu is pretty awesome. Thanks Brad!

Tour ended in Michigan so I got to spend some time with family before going home :)  That was nice, but snow, and having to fly on Christmas, were not.  Also, apparently if you're flying on Christmas Day the TSA doesn't want to bother with you taking your shoes off or taking your bag of 3oz bottles of liquid out of your carry-on.  That made me feel really safe *sarcasm*

My female friends and I have been trying to have get togethers once every month or so, so we can all keep in touch despite our busy schedules.

My roommate Mary hosted a tacos and pool party one at our place.

The spread, I made Raspberry Mojito Cupcakes

Dissaya on her slip n' slide

The only boys allowed at the pool party taking a dip.

I got paid to sew a costume for a movie called The Purgation that a lot of my friends also worked on or acted in.

My other job is going ok.  I don't mind the job and my co-workers are awesome, but the store management kind of sucks. My department doesn't get much support and back-up from the store, but my co-workers and I are currently working on changing that.

Luckily One-Eyed Doll is going on tour again, so I can get some time away.

Been exploring some more places on days off.  Corey and I went down to a mall in Orange County one day, and spent another wandering around Pasadena again.

Been doing a lot of baking and cooking, but I have so many pictures I could fill another entire blog with just food. I've tried to introduce Boog to the concept of selfies, he's not a fan.

I could probably also fill an entire blog with pictures of Boog being a weirdo.

My friend Lindsey was on the show Wipeout.  We had a big get together at the bar Mary was bar tending at to watch it on their big screen.  She made it all the way to the finals!!!  At the moment it's only available to Hulu+ members, and I don't know how long it will be up, but you can try watching the episode here!

I sewed myself a cute apron to bake in, then sewed a sleeve for my reusable cup with some of the left over fabric.

Our friend, and one of Corey's old roommates, Chris just moved to CA!  He just got here earlier this week and contacted me a couple of days ago.  Yesterday after we got out of work we met up with him.  We took him to eat at Lucky Boy in Pasadena. That night he was supposed to meet up with someone he knew at an improv show in Santa Monica, so we went to that with him.  While there we ran into the director of The Purgation and caught up with her for a bit.  After the show we took Chris down to the Santa Monica Pier just because it's cool.

And that, more or less, brings me to today :)  Which apparently is National Blueberry Muffin Day.  I bought blueberries from Whole Foods that I'll probably use to make a compote for the vegetarian panna cotta I've wanted to make ever since they had to make panna cotta on Master Chef. Maybe there will be pictures of it in my food picture blog.

First 5 shows

If you've read the last post or keep up with me on Facebook, you know I'm currentlty on tour with One-Eyed Doll again. This time Mushroomhead is headlining.  The other awesome bands touring with us are Unsaid Fate and Ionia. Paulo's back as our driver, but we're losing him in CA :( Mike is back roadie-ing-ie-ing-ie-ing, sorry, got caught in a loop there. We also have an awesome new friend this tour, Vaughn! They just met him 3 days before tour and liked him so much they kidnapped him to take on tour. Crazy things about Vaughn; He used to live in Grand Rapids, MI and moved from there to TX around the same time I moved to CA. He also works at Starbucks. We have swapped many coffee-isms and work horror stories.

The first show was at the same venue we played at with Polkadot Cadaver. When they played before, the room and stage were sectioned off. This time it was all open. The room was huge but packed. I didn't see much because I got in late and because merch was to the side of the stage where I couldn't see. I did sneak away a few time to see Mushroomhead because I've only seen their show once before when they toured with OED. They have a great live performance. I love the water/light drums. During the last song a little boy, probably no older than 8 came out and played them. I REALLY wish I had gotten some video of it. I'm hoping when we're back out that way he gets to play again. At one point in the night I guy came over to the table staring at me intently. He said I looked just like his girlfriend. We have the same hair and same shaped face. He did a double take when he saw me because she was supposed to be in Canada. We had a bunch of VIPs that night, including our awesome friends Ally and Gwen. We also have a special new VIP exclusive treat! But you'll have to be a VIP to see/hear it :) Over all, once I finally got there and settled in, it was a good night.

The next show was in Merrium, KS. We were at this venue on the Otep tour. A girl came to the table early in the night to look around and show off her Committed shirt from last time. Later on she came to me in a zipped up hoodie and a story about how a drunk guy outside ripped her shirt/bra and luckily she had the hoodie or else she'd be topless. She was asking if I could give her a deal on a new shirt. Feeling bad about her situation, I did. Only to remember her from last time half way through. She came to me saying she models band shirts and was asking for a shirt in exchange for pictures of her in it later on. I told her she had to talk to Jr about it, and by the end of the night she had a free shirt. She also got "hurt" both this show and last. She had to be carried out and taken care of, but then later in the night she's suddenly completely fine walking around like nothing ever happened.

This show, my merch was set up next to the local opener, who were nice when we got there and made sure I had enough space. However, by the end of the night the area in front of them was filled with their obnoxious drunk friends. They kept setting their drinks on the other merch table and drunkenly stumbling unto it. I had to constantly watch to make sure they were't spilling anything on my stuff. There were so many people there just to get drunk. I saw a few peopleget escortted out because they were overly intoxicatec. I even saw a girl get escortted out because she decided to get topless during Mushroomhead. I went to the bathroom at one point and there was a girl helping her overly drunk friend use the bathroom. Coming out of the stall she fell, fell into the swinging door of another stall hitting her head, then the door swung back and hit her in the head again. She just sat there on the bathroom floor laughing about it.

There was also a guy that came over to my table and started looking through a book we sell of photos and the Dirty album lyrics. He started getting all weird and talking about how he was having flashbacks. He told me about how he did acid for 20 years but swore he wasn't on it then. Either way, it messed him up. Don't do drugs kids. Somehow we got to talking about California, and it turns out he used to live in the city I live in. I mentioned a few of the highways in the area and he flipped out. He was amazed I knew the places he was talking about and said that's how he knew I was genuine. He thanked me and awkwardly called me a "beautiful little girl" before finally leaving.

The show itself was a bit rough. Kim kept getting shocked because of bad grounding with the mic/guitar cables. It got so bad she had to cut the set short and even ended the last song halfway through. Coincidently, the venue was called "Aftershock."

We had one VIP, Jack, who was our VIP here before and in Iowa at the Polkadot show. Since him and his dad were the only ones, they did the VIP party during Mushroomhead so I didn't get to be there :( But it's all good :)

Awesome place we ate at after the show

The third show was in Salina, KS aka "Celine Dion", KS. We got there early enough that we reorganized a lot of the merch and sorted it into some new, non-broken tubs. The show itself was a good show despite a smaller crowd. Kim had a heckler in the back but the rest of the crowd shut him up pretty quickly. We had some awesome VIPs but the real party started after they left and we sat around making puns. This whole trip has been full of puns, but that night we just sat around having a pun off. We'd start with one topic and be on that for a while, then transition to another, and so on. It was a fun night, until we tried to leave and our windshield kept icing over. Stupid cold weather... :(

Waking up in Denver

The next day we were in Denver, CO. It was even colder. I think it was 6 degrees when we got there. We got there early, so Mike, Vaughn and I wandered around. We were looking for a place to grab some coffee and food when we ran into a girl named Ashley asking for 25¢ for coffee. She had some time to kill before going into work and no money until she got paid. She only asks for 25¢ because she feels like asking for a dollar is to much, but if she can get 4 people to give her a quarter, she has a dollar. She seemed nice so we invited her to breakfast with us and Vaughn bought her a coffee and bagel. We told her about OED and the concert that night. It turns out she's always wanted to learn the drums. We put her on the guestlist for the show that night in case she could make it after work, but we never saw her. Hopefully we encouraged her to start playing though.

The show that night was good. There was a big crowd and they seemed really into it. We had 3 awesome VIPs, Brandon (who makes tea and is an Emily Autumn fan) and Andrew from the last time we were in Denver as well as a newbie Sean. After the VIP party we stoppoed at a little local diner for food. We ended up befriending the 2 guys in the booth behind us. At the VIP party that night Kim called us Celine Dion and the Michael Boltons. Someone told them that was our band name and one of them was like "I've heard of you guys! No, seriously! I'm not just saying that!" It was funny. The other guy did something with acupuncture and Eastern medicine. Kim had a good time talking to him. We invited them to hang out on our bus for a little bit which they thought was super cool. The one left his acupuncture kit on our bus though, so now we have to mail it back to him.

The next show was in Colorado Springs, CO. We stopped at a really good Indian buffet on the way. I'd mention it, except they poisoned Mike. Seriously. He made us all a mango lassi, except Mike. He was really weird about Mike not getting one. Later he told Mike he'd make him a cherry lassi. Mike ended up SO sick that night. He threw up a few times and spent the night after load in sleeping.

There were a LOT of drunk people at this show, plus many that were probably on a few other things. I was tucked way back in a corner, but luckily Sean and Brandon from the night before were there again, and they were my bodyguards. Unfortunately, Brandon parked on a street that used to, key word USED to, have no parking signs. His car was towed anyway and he spent a lot of the VIP party trying to figure out getting it back :( We gave him a ride home and hopefully it all worked out for him. If you're reading this, let me know!

And now doors are opening so I'll have to catch you up some other time :)

Beginning of tour

Tour got off to a bit of a rough start. Got up at 5 am, got ready, and headed to the airport. Went to check in at 6:45, learned they stopped checking bags for my flight at 6:40. I called someone over and they told me there was nothing they could do. Had to pay $75 to switch to a flight leaving at noon.

Got through security with no problems, dispite the fact that I have bright red hair and probably looked like I was going to cry the whole time. One of the guys working asked me about the shirt I was wearing. It was a shirt of a band that some guys I went to high school with are in. He told me about how they have a lot of famous people come though. Apparently Carlos Santana came through not that long ago.

Got to my gate, and tried to find something to do for 4 1/2 hours until boarding. Wandered around to see if I could get some coffee or breakfast, since I hadn't planned on the extra hours. Every place had super long lines and a regular cup of coffee was almost $3. I decided to head back to the gate and wait. Luckily the airport had wi-fi as long as you watch an ad every half hour so I could catch up on a few things and waste sometime. It's really hard though when you're tired, just sitting around, but can't sleep/nap.

Around 9:30 I tried for food/coffee again. Ther were more places open and the lines were a lot shorter. I still ended up paying $6 for a coffee (with grounds in the bottom) and muffin. I guess that's not too far off from what you'd pay at a place like Starbucks.

Less then 10 minutes before we were supposed to board they announced a gate change. Whenwe were supposed to be boasrding they announced that boarding was delayed 15 minutes. 20 minutes later I gave up and ran to the bathroom. When I got back I saw that boarding was changed to 12 and take off to 12:30. Boarding FINALLY started at 12:10. While waiting I did see an awesome lady wearing purple shoes, purple pants, a purple sweater, carrying a purple bag.

They finally called my boarding group and I got in line to board. They scanned my ticket and it beeped. I thought maybe, once again, I had been selected for a random search. Nope, they just took my printed ticket and gave me a more official looking one. I was also for some reason moved from seat 14A to 11A.

I really wish I had thought to get my camera out because the view while taking off was awesome. First we flew out over the ocean. At one point yuou couldn't see anything but water. Then we turn and headed back east. I could see the Hollywood sign, Griffith Park, the Americana, roughly where I lived. It was cool seeing the landscape turn from all city, to suddenly mountians and no buildings.

Finally, several hours later I arrived in St. Louis. When I turned my phone on I had a text from Jr. They were stuck at the venue and couldn't come get me :( I ended up having to take a taxi. After all of that I finally made it! I'll have to write about the first few shows some other time because doors are about to open!

One Year in CA!!!!!

I started writing this on September 15th, the 1 year anniversary of my coming to California.  Then I got busy (as always) and them my laptop monitor decided to go haywire.  At the moment I have a borrowed computer and a bit of free time, so I figured I'd proofread what I had and post it to let you all know I'm still alive :)

My blog has been neglected lately, sorry. I don't know if I'll ever get around to posting about the last 2 days of the Polkadot Cadaver tour because it was soooo long ago. I've been really busy with work lately. Our department is finally getting the hours we need, and we're all at almost 40 hours. I'm not sure how my co-workers that are in school manage. I'm not sure what we're going to do during the holiday season if we're maxed out now. They'll probably hire some seasonal people and hopefully we'll just have extra people running around helping out...?

Days off tend to be spent accidentally sleeping in WAY too late because I'm exhausted from work, or trying to catch up on things like laundry, grocery shopping, being social, dishes, cleaning my room, etc.  One day off was relaxing in Santa Monica.  I have a bunch of fun pictures from the trip, but my computer wouldn't read the card from Corey's camera, and bugging him about getting them to me hasn't been working. I've also gotten back into jewelry making. I registered for an etsy store and once I get more pieces finished I'll open it up and post a link.  I've also made a few One-Eyed Doll inspired pieces and been talking to Kim about them.  I'm not sure if they'll end up in my store or theirs.  I sadly didn't make it on their fall tour with Mushroomhead.  The timing just didn't work out with some stuff I have to take care of.  Part of me is wondering what the crap is wrong with me.  A few years ago I was just another average fan of the band.  Somewhere along the way I became a friend, helped them shoot a music video, and have gone on tour with them twice.  Now they're asking me to go on more tours and quit my job to work for them, but I'm like "nah, I got other stuff I need to do right now..." Seriously, who the crap does that?!?!?  Most fans would kill to be asked this by their favorite band.  Fans reading this now probably hate me for turning down the opportunity.  I hope they realize (and I'm sure they do) that I'm super grateful for the opportunities, there was just some other stuff I needed to take care of.  Especially to make sure things work out in the long run.  Part of me really just wants to drop everything and live life up in the air, but I know at the moment I can do some things that will make the future easier for me, so I feel like (or a change) I need to do the responsible thing and do it while I can. 

Now, let's talk about the reason I'm finally getting around to writing an entry.  September 15th was the one year anniversary of the day I finally made it into the state of California!  It has been a great first year.  I moved out here with one of my best friends, Corey, and I couldn't have asked for a better person to have moved with.  He's an amazing person, great roommate, and has become so much more than a friend :D  We also got lucky and found an amazing roommate, Mary, and a nice place to live.  We've found a great group of friends out here.  We found decent jobs and have awesome co-workers.  It really has been an amazing first year out here.  I miss friends and family back in Michigan, but moving to California was one of the best decisions ever.

Now let's see, what have I been up to since September?  Corey and I managed to get 3 days off for our Birthdays (his is the 31st) and Halloween.  We went out to brunch on both of our birthdays.  I wish I could upload the picture of the gigantic Benedict Florentine on a croissant I had for my birthday, it was goooooood!  We also threw a big Birthday/Halloween party that a lot of our friends made it out to, despite being a week night.  I sadly don't have a really good picture of my phoenix costume, but you can see most of it in the picture below.

Cupcake tower!

Grant as Ash from Evil Dead and Corey as a Lumberjack from Monty Python

Emily - pregnant girl, Mary - Barbie, Me, Dee - Going into labor?

We ended up hiring 3 seasonal people at work.  One used to work there and current works at another Starbucks, so she's already trained.  Another used to work in the food area at Target, so she's familiar with things, and has been picking up drink making easily.  The other girl is completely new and has been having some trouble getting the hang of things.  We should have pretty good coverage for Black Friday though.  My scheduled shift (though we'll probably work overtime) is 2am-10:45am.  I'll probably just take a nap then stay up all night and let the coffee induced, sleep-deprived craziness ensue.  It should be fun.  Now that we have 3 extra people, hours may get cut though.  Fortunately, my manager is going to work it out so I'll be getting paid to go on the winter One-Eyed Doll tour!  Not only that, but it ends the 21st in Michigan, so I'll be home for a few days for Christmas.  It somehow all worked out perfectly!  I have my flight out to meet OED, just got my flight home and  my manager is working out the schedule.  I'm really excited!!!

For Thanksgiving this year we're getting together at our friends Jeremy and Rachel's place.  They used to live just down the street, but recently moved into a house a little bit further away.  It's sad that I can't just walk there anymore, but I'm excited that they now have a 2 bedroom house for roughly the price of their 1 bedroom apartment, and have space to host things like Thanksgiving :)

So that's what I've been up to for the past few months.  Hopefully it won't take me another 4 months to post again :)

St. Louis, Peoria and Spring Lake Park

Wow, times flies when you're busy.  Well, tour has been over for a while.  Luckily I had most of a blog written weeks ago, and I have notes about the rest of the tour, so you all still get to hear about it.

Tuesday, June 25th we were in St. Louis, MO for the third show of the tour. The place we stopped for lunch on the way there was right across the street from the 50's Place I ate at when moving from Michigan to California. 

 

This stuff is AWE-SOME!

Exotic Animal Petting Zoo (EAPZ) broke down on their way and didn't make it to the show :( I don't know if the lack of them being there had anything to do with it, or if it was just the area we were in, but there was a really small crowd at this show. It was still a great show though. Ally and Jaye were there, along with Norm and Jessica from the first VIP this tour. Jessica brought along her 5 year old son, Halon, who was adorable. He was rocking out during Polkadot Cadaver. Todd, the lead singer, kept trying to get him to come up on stage but he got all shy when they drew attention to him. We also have 2 new VIPs, but I wasn't there for the VIP after party so I don't know their names :( If you're reading this, hi! *waves* Guitarist Jason from Polkadot was rocking a OED “Dirty” shirt for this show. Also, during one song, whenever there was a part of the song he wasn't playing, he ran out into the audience and started pulling people closer to the stage, then run back up on stage to play. One guy he kept pushing forward went and sat down on a stool, so the next time he ran down he slide the entire stool closer to the stage.

Ally tagged the table...

Wednesday's show was in Peoria, IL. It wasn't very far away, so we got a hotel room for the night. We've been extremely spoiled this tour. I've gotten to sleep in a bed almost every night, and I've had a shower ever day. :D

Kick-a-poo!

We got to the venue in Peoria at 5:15. From the outside it looked like a liquor/party store. No one from the venue was there yet. A bit before 5:30 someone showed up to let us in, but they guy in charge of telling us where to unload everything wasn't there yet. So we left Mike and the trailer there and went to find food.  By the time we got back, things were unloaded and people were hanging about.  There were 4 local openers, and despite no EAPZ, One-Eyed Doll didn't start until after 11, and the entire show didn't end until after 1am.  The crowd was chanting "One-Eyed Doll!" while Junior and Mike were setting up.  Kim called me up on stage, as well as Mike and VIP Norm's daughter, Patience, and made us run in place while they played "I Love My Little Bus."  That was my first time seeing that song live, as well as "Black Forest."  The crowd was awesome, and almost knocked over some speakers they got so into the show!

Afterwards we attempted to take our VIPs (all of them veteran VIPs if I remember correctly) to this restaurant called Richard's.  Even though it was 2:30 in the morning, they were still serving alcohol.  And even though it's a restaurant, apparently no one under the age of 21 is allowed in while they're serving alcohol.  That meant no Patience.  So we called Ihop.  They were already closed for the night.  Denny's it was.  For some reason this Denny's food was really good though.  Super awesome VIP Skitz paid for all of OED and crew's meals.  Thank you Skitz!!!!  *BIG HUGS*  We ended up not leaving Denny's until 5 am.  We went back to the hotel room, showered, and left at 6:30 am for the next show.  Luckily Paulo stayed at the hotel and slept during the show so he was ok to drive the 8 hours to our next show in Spring Lake Park, MN.

We made it to Minnesota this time with out getting pulled over!  I guess a van with a trailer looks less rock star then a Sprinter driven by a guy that looks like a hippie :)  We got into MN early, did some laundry, got some coffee, ate some really good food, and still managed to get to the venue with time to set up.  This was the same venue in MN as last tour.  The one raffling off steaks and playing honky-tonk music.  If they were doing it this time, we were luckily there too late and missed it.  There were people there just playing poker/pool though, same as last time.

The above sign was in the restroom.  I understand that it's saying something to the affect of "Thank you for not using" but it could also be read as Management sarcastically thanking us for making it out of order, or us sarcastically thanking management for it being out of order.  Apparently Management also works at a gas station:

The audience was chanting for OED at this show too.  There were plenty of fans from when they played here last tour, and a guy who told me he saw them on YouTube and was instantly a huge fan.  One fan who saw them there with Otep thought they were headlining this tour, until they got their ticket and saw Polkadot Cadaver on the ticket.  But they were still excited they were there again.  

Awesome fan Chloe got to be on stage during the show.  She sang along and played the severed leg guitar.  She also was my awesome helper at the merch table.  We were dressed almost the same and both had pigtails in our hair.  I'll have to see if I can find one of the pictures somewhere.  We called her mini-mini-Kimberly.  She was great at showing off merch and dancing during Polkadot Cadaver, without any training!  I taught her how to give Mike a disapproving head shake, so now she knows how to do everything.  Either I have someone to call in if I'm ever sick, or I need to watch out because someone may be gunning for my job!

After that show we had one single VIP named Tim.  We ended up at some local diner/hamburger place, where the guys from Polkadot Cadaver showed up later.  Tim was also the first VIP to get to participate in a VIP dance-off, something we continued at the rest of the VIP parties.  I think some video ended up on OED's facebook page.  Go see if you can find it and watch that while you wait for me to write about the last 2 shows and getting stuck in TX for a few days.  :)