I Couldn't Think of a Title

Actually, I kind of stole that title from Psychostick.

Vanity moment.  Some photos from the Pontiac, IL show.

Shiny, laser-y hair! Photo by Phage

I couldn't decide what color neon fishnets to wear, so I wore all 4 - Photo by W Tegan Trost

After the last show I wrote about, we had a day off.  We drove part way to the next show, then stayed at a truck stop over night.  Our super awesome VIP was coming to the NC shows, and he slept in his car at the same truck stop.  It worked out because Damian was up early and wanted to go into Asheville, NC to hang out, so Justin drove him there.  Once Jr was up, he drove us to a grocery store parking lot in Asheville.  Justin met us there, after dropping Damian off at the spa, and he drove Jr and Vaughn to the music store.  Not wanting to get stuck bored wandering around a music store for hours, I went grocery shopping.  Jr gave me $100 for food and supplies, and NO, I did not come back with $100 worth of brie and cheesecake. 

By the time I was checking out, they were back, and we put groceries away and Justin drove us to get sushi!  Mmm...  Driving through Asheville we came across a guy playing a drum set on the sidewalk.  His set was Crush the same company that sponsors Jr.  Jr and Vaughn got out to watch him and take some pictures/video for Crush.  Apparently he was also playing left handing, which hurt Vaughn’s brain to watch.

After that, it was back to the RV for naps. I also altered a “Skull” shirt to wear.  Kim got some pictures of it :)

The next day it was off to Raleigh, NC.  This is where the photoshoot of my shirt took place :)  It sucked because we got there at 3, but they told us we couldn’t load in until 7.  Psychostick showed up at 6:30, and then we were finally allowed to load in.  Doors were at 8, and it felt rushed trying to get set up.  I think they let people in early because I was still finishing setting up as people were coming in.

The venue had an odd set up.  The back area, where merch was, was this huge open area with pool tables.  Then you went through this little hallway area to a tiny room with a tiny stage, bar, and a bit of standing area for the show.  The bathrooms were past the bar so you had to push through a sea of people just to use the restroom. It was a bizarre set up.

For any of you in a band or thinking of starting one, a tip based on something I’ve noticed at several shows, your logo/band name needs to be readable!  One of the openers had merch set up right next to me, and I have NO idea what the name of the band was!  They had it on a big banner behind their table, they had it on their merch, but it was a mess of splotches and I couldn’t make out what it said :(

Because the area was so small, the stage wasn’t very high, and the place was crowded, I didn’t get any pictures from the show.  There were some epic headbangers in the crowd.  The openers were super metal bands, and probably warmed them up for us :)  It’s fun seeing crowd interaction from show to show.  At some shows, when Kim throws out body parts, people aren’t sure what to think and have no idea what’s going on.  Then there are shows like this one where people are grabbing for the body parts and almost fighting over them.

For some reason at this show it became a thing for me to draw unicorns on things.  We have a sign I made a few tours ago with a unicorn on it that says “Yay! Plastic!” and lists the 4 major credit cards, letting people know we accept cards.  A few people have wanted the shirt with the unicorn on it. At this show, a guy wanted me to draw a unicorn ON his shirt for him.  Luckily Jr talked him into letting me draw it on paper for him. I also drew a dragon by request.  Then another fan wanted me to draw a unicorn on her Monster CD.  

Rob from Psychostick’s birthday was either that day, or after it hit midnight, I’m not sure which.  Either way, they celebrated on stage that night.  They sang him an awesome version of happy birthday, and Matty gave him a big kiss on the cheek. When they were giving shout outs to all of the other bands that played, they got the whole crowd to chant “One-Eyed Doll!” They’re such great tour buddies!

VIP party was small but fun.  One of our VIPs was from Finland! Her and her fiancé (?) were going to come to the show the next night as well. She asked if they could play their cover of “I am a Viking” at the VIP show the next night.  Kim made this whole big deal of telling her they couldn’t hoping to surprise her with it the next night, even possibly letting/making her wear the viking horns hat.  They didn’t make it to the show though :(  It did downpour, so maybe they decided not to drive in it?  If you happen to be reading this, please let us know you’re ok and we’re sad we missed you :(

Speaking of VIPs and horns, Kim was wearing her cow horns/ears at this VIP party and kept adding “Moo” into all of the songs.  You never know what you’re going to get at a One-Eyed Doll show/after party.  We also decided that my next career move is DJ-ing.  I’m going to DJ from my computer using my spacebar and go by the name DJ Spacebar.  Oh the things that happen when on the road and sleep deprived.

Wednesday we were in Charlotte, NC. This venue was almost the opposite of the last one. The room was huge and the stage was up high enough that I got some good pictures, but not so high that Kim couldn’t come down and play in the crowd.

Kim's signature kick!

After we loaded in, it POURED! That may have kept some people away, but it was still a really good show.  I think the roof may have been leaking too!  I saw them mopping a few times, and the sound guy was all freaking out at one point drying off the sound board, and they were pointing flashlights up at the ceiling looking for possible leaks :(

We weren’t allowed to use our fog at this show because of their AC and how giant the room was, which meant the lasers weren’t as cool. But my pictures turned out!

I love how intently both of these guys are watching her!

SOOOO pretty!

"Sad"

"And ugly"

Kim's riding a unicorn while playing

Unicorns vs Dragons

Dragon Vaughn holding a unicorn

Psychostick had a fan birthday this show.  I believe his name was Tony and he turned 16.  They sang their epic birthday song for him, and Matty abused him with his antlers.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but I got this decent picture of them on stage.

We also had the best slow-mo mosh pit of the tour this show. But, it was also a sad day because this was the last show our VIP Justin was going to be at.  I never got a photo with him because I kept thinking I’d get it at the next show, and then never got around to it. He got at least 1, but his camera went missing.  We finally found it in the trailer, but he'll have to wait until after tour to have it mailed to him.

As I mentioned before, our other VIPS from the night before didn’t make it :(  Since Justin was our only VIP, and he’d been a VIP and hung out with us for a few days, and we had a looooong drive to Florida the next day, we didn’t do an acoustic show that night.  We just got on the road as soon as we could.  We went through 5 states that night.  North Carolina to South Carolina to Georgia to Alabama finally to Florida!  Specifically, Destin, FL for our next show. 

Kim was actually on the poster!  This is how the tour was pitched to OED

Merch was set up in this little separate room area with counters out into the main room.  Psychostick was around the corner because the counter wouldn’t really work with Matty’s cart, and the opening band Beyond the Pale was in there with me. I had the pleasure of talking with Chad who was helping them out behind the counter. He likes my costume page so there’s a chance he’ll be reading this.  Hopefully I don’t embarrass you too much :)

Chad thought I looked 20-22.  I’ll just say thank you and leave it at that :)  I was asking him about Beyond the Pale and asked if they ever do any touring, or just local shows.  He said they’re getting to old to tour, they’re in their 30’s and have families.  I understand it being hard to tour while having a family, but 30’s is not old!  I won’t get into numbers, but OED and crew, Psychostick, Otep, most members of Mushroomhead, etc, etc, etc are not exactly spring chickens, to use that phrase that I’m 100% sure if I’m using it right.  Lol.

Matty thought this show was going to be a small one like the night before, but it was actually quite backed despite being a bigger room. I had access to an area on an upper level, and got some cool pictures and video.  I haven’t figured out how to get video off my new camera, so videos are going to have to wait until I get home.

At one point I went to the bathroom and over heard a girl (I think she was a girlfriend from the opening band) talking to the bathroom attendant about it being just the 2 of them on stage. It was awesome, until the girl said “It’s just the 2 of them but she’s got some pre-recorded shit and she’s right on time with that.”  WOAH WOAH WOAH!  NO!  There is no pre-recorded stuff she’s playing along to.  I didn’t want to stalk her out of the bathroom and sound like I was all offended because it’s “my” band, so I didn’t correct her.  Jr thought it was funny when I told him, but Kim actually sounded kind of upset, so I wish I had.  Fail on my part.  I honestly think she was just a band girlfriend who know about stuff like that and was trying to sound like she knew what she was talking about.  But, if anyone has any idea what she may have been hearing that supposedly sounds like backing tracks, Kim would like to know. Back to happy stuff...

One fan kept calling me "shiny merch girl" and wanted a hug at the end of the night :)  

At one point, I missed it, but I guess Kim threw the Pope hat back, and it landed perfectly on Jr's lap.  Then, as soon as he had a hands free section in the song, he put it on.  Apparently it worked out perfectly.

We also had a lot of professional dance instructors at this show too. They all showed off their signature move before the song.  Kim even showed us hers, which was the sprinkler (everyone reading this quick get up and do the sprinkler). She quickly said that she wouldn't be able to do it though because she had to play guitar.  She did somehow manage to fit it in a couple of times during short guitar breaks. 

I had trouble getting everyone in AND not blurry :(

Group hug

Yay!

Over all, great show all around!

Take your little Rock N Roll talons, rip out your little Rock N Roll hearts, and throw them at my feet!

Psychostick loves their tacos!!!

We had a great group of VIPs that night! Including the shiny merch buyer :) They were so excited and enthusiastic.  We had the best, knee-slappiest Committed ho-down of tour so far! You guys were all awesome and entertaining!  I really hope we get to see you at many more shows in the future.

No matter how much fun it seems like it would be to climb random dirt piles, it’s not such a good idea in Florida.  Not only were my feet and flip flops all sandy, but something bit/stung my foot. At first they just looked like mosquito bites, but they got worse before getting better.  The one near my toe looks better, but this is the one on my ankle 4 days later, finally looking better.

That night we parked the RV beach side to get some food.  We befriended this little guy on our walk to the restaurant

Kim and I also had way too much fun hanging out with the locals

I think he's pulling me in closer for some advice?

Arm wrestling!  I think I'm winning!

NOPE!  NOPE!  Definitely not winning!  AHHHH!!!!

Don't worry Melinda...

I got this!

AHH!  Maybe not!

This rooster is super freaked out by me trying to kiss him

Kim's quite taken by him :)

And apparently $2 claw games for lobsters are a thing...

The moon over the ocean that night was beautiful!  My camera somewhat managed to get a picture of it.

After Destin, it was Orlando, FL! The venue was called Bombshells, and sort of had an Asian theme to it.  It also had an odd set up. It was U shaped with the bar in the center.  The left part of the U had pool tables and was open to everyone.  The bottom part of the U was where merch was set up, then the right U was where the band was playing, and you had to pay/have a ticket to get in. You could technically not pay to see the show and still somewhat hear it.  I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t in the room or if it was bad sound, but the snare was really loud and Kim’s vocals sounded really distorted.  Also, since I was in another room, no photos from this show :(

This place was super smokey too.  I miss being in states where indoor smoking is banned.  It got so bad my eyes started burning.  I went outside at one point for some fresh air, but there were 2 guys standing outside next to the door smoking.

There was a guy working at the bar that was a huge fan since last time they were there.  He kept trying to take care of Kim by bringing her water, asked her if she needed a towel or something, and checking up on her during the signing. I say trying because as long as we have water bottles, I make all of the crew Emergen-C waters for after the show and I always have napkins and a mirror for her to clean up. It was super awesome that he wanted to be so helpful and took care of her :)

I think this day was also Josh from PS’s birthday.  I knew it was coming up because Kelly (the photographer) left us a gift for him in Cleveland. It was hard to hear what was going on in the other room though.

While packing up and loading out a guy came by who said he’s usually a photographer there, but wasn’t working that night.  He really wanted to know what was going on and who the bands were because that’s the most packed he’d ever seen that place! Go fans!

A series of these were in the bathrooms at the club.

If you can’t read the bottom part, here’s a close up.

I was really hoping that when you went to BeatTheDUI.org it just said “Don’t drink and drive.” Unfortunately there’s a quiz they make you take first, and you have to enter your info in order to be entered into a drawing to win stuff, before you can view your results.  If you finally do that, it tells you not to drink and drive.

We had 4 VIPs that night!  Pam, her granddaughter Megan, Tony (who is originally from Kalamazoo, MI!) and James. They were all great people and fun to hang out with.  Pam also has a cause I quickly want to mention.

Her first grandson Joey passed away from metastatic retinoblastoma. She’s raising awareness about proper vision check up for children in order to saves lives and vision.  There’s more information at lovejoey.com and videos on youtube I haven’t had a chance to watch any of the videos, but Pam says everything you need to know is in there.

Random place next door.  I don't understand.......

After out VIP party we got some food at this coffee shop/cafe called, of all things, Austin Film & Coffee!  It had a super punk vibe with stickers all over the trashcans, the bathroom was covered in graffiti artwork, and in addition to the usual booths that had a variety of mismatched chairs.  Plus there were some unique people hanging out on the patio.  They had coffee, good food, lots of vegan options, and microbrew beers (not that we had any of those, but it’s cool they serve them). I had a super yummy Vegan Chipotle Chik-un sandwich with pasta salad, and got a giant blueberry muffin for breakfast the next morning.

More Bee graffiti

I've somehow never seen this movie...

Cool moon!

In order to get to said coffee shop, we parked across the street next to an RV sales lot. We got back to the RV, and parts of their chain link fence were heated to an amber glow.  We don’t know if it was an electric fence, or there was a power line or something touching it, but we didn’t stay around long enough to find out.  Hopefully the trees didn’t catch on fire and we’re not suspected of arson.

The next morning I woke up to find us parked in some crazy posh shopping area’s parking lot. It seemed to have everything. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay there and play that long :(  Damian did some work at Panera and Vaughn and I hung out at Starbucks using their wifi until we had to head to the venue. As Vaughn and I were walking around, a guy yelled at Vaughn “Nice shirt!” he was wearing a OED logo shirt.  I had literally just woken up and wasn’t all there yet, but we really should have asked him if he was coming to the show that night. Another fail on my part.

We got to the venue, loaded in, and were setting up when we met the first opening band, Minor Influence. They happened to mention that their drummer quit that day, but they’d sold tickets and were there, so they were going to go ahead and play anyway.  Vaughn and Jr decided to help them out and each jumped on drums for a couple of songs.  I have some video that I can’t get off my camera yet, but in the meantime here’s a few pics

There were some interesting people there. My friend with the flashlight that helped out when the power went out at the Otep show was there. I’m also used to seeing women with their kids, and older women dressed sexy for the show, but this night there was an older woman dressed in short shorts and thigh high fishnets with her family, including young daughter.  It was odd.

The second opening band was more of a rap band, and the 3rd band sounded like Rage Against the Machine.  I thought they did, and 2 separate other people at some point was saying they thought they sounded like Rage.

A proposal

Those of you who have seen them live have probably seen Kim’s introduction to Plumes of Death.  She makes a joke about them being an easy listening, religious, hip hop, smooth jazz group and that their song has been covered by Celine Dion, Kenny G, Michael Bolton, etc. Tonight however, you may have heard it covered by Minor Influence! I also enjoyed seeing people laugh during the 3rd verse of Be My Friend.  Sometimes people don’t always get it or don’t pay attention to the lyrics.

That is a guy with one leg, and his prosthetic leg both hoisted into the air

Kim's playing somewhere in the crowd there

The show was good this night, but overall I wasn’t a fan of this place. The promoter gave us money for food, but didn’t provide water bottles, and the venue would NOT give water bottles to the bands unless they paid $2-3 for each of them. They did give us cups of water, but it tasted weird, it’s hard to keep from spilling on stage, and if it was left out of direct sight for too long, I didn’t trust drinking it with some of the people there.

Some of the fans were SO pushy too!  Something you should all know; a lot of times I don’t really have any communication with Kim before the show. That, and I can’t force Kim to do anything.  If there’s a song you want played or something, I can maybe relay the message to Jr who can suggest it to Kim. But if it doesn’t fit in the flow of the set, the audience doesn’t seem receptive to it, or Kim’s just not feeling it, she’s not going to play it. Personal messages are even worse. And do not, I repeat, DO NOT, rush Kim as she’s going on stage. Usually she’s not going onto the stage until she needs to be.  If you stop her as she’s going onto stage, you’re taking time away from the set.  You stopping her may have just cost everyone a song. She’s also in a completely different zone getting ready to rock your faces off.  Don’t suddenly get all up in her face as she’s trying to take the stage.  How is that acceptable for anyone? If you’re not careful, someday Kim may become one of these musicians that can’t come out and mingle before the set and has to be escorted by a pack of security to get anywhere :(

There was also a fan who was trying to get me to help him pressure his friend into doing a shot.  His friend was also holding a beer, and said he didn’t feel like he could do it because he might throw up.  I’m not going to pressure anyone into drinking, especially if they feel like they’ve already had too much. His friend was not happy and went to see if Psychostick would help him.

Something was up with the sound.  Every band had screeching feedback, and it was especially ear piercing between sets during sound check.  The sound guy kept putting an echo on Kim for some reason too.  

Also, someone stole my pen >:(

During Psychostick some drunk guys who were trying to start a mosh pit, decided that it was a good idea to throw each other into the front rows of people watching the show…  What…?  Is that a thing?  Not just pushing each other into people like moshers sometimes do, literally lifting up into the air and forcing them to land on the shoulders of poor innocent people.

Blurry Psychostick in Green

Blurry Psychostick in Blue

Blurry Psychostick in Magenta

Blurry Psychostick in Red

Psychostick does a funny cover of the Danger Zone and Take My Breath Away during their set. Rob says random funny things throughout their songs, and that night during the Danger Zone he wanted to go Shoe Shopping, Dangerously!!!  There were also people slow dancing during Take My Breath Away.  Pretty hilarious.

Apparently I should move to Florida because yet another person told me I looked like I was 22.  Thinking about it later though, it may be because there’s so much smoking going on in Florida.  Maybe I look younger because smoking/second hand smoke is aging everyone so much.  ALL of my stuff reeks of cigarette smoke now.  My hair smells, my clothes smell, my backpack smells, Grumpy Cat smells, my sweatshirt that stayed inside of my backpack smells, EVERYTHING SMELLS!  It’s so gross.  Ugh!

Jr brought me food, and this half full cup of root beer the size of my head

We had one VIP that night, Jackson, founder of Jacksonville, FL :)  The club scammed him a bit by selling him a more expensive “VIP” ticket.  From what I gather their VIP ticket only gave him access to a special VIP seating area, which I have no idea where that even was.  I didn’t see any real seating area other than the bar.  He wanted to hang out and do the acoustic show though so he bought a VIP badge. Being the only one he got a private VIP party.  Hopefully that made up for the shady club VIP.  He even got to wear Kim’s unicorn headband.

Did I mention I’m DJ Spacebar?  Well we decided that night that Kim is DJ Pants after Damian misheard me say PJ Pants.

After the VIP we went to Famous Amos for food.  I’m pretty sure this is the exact same one we ate at while here on the Otep tour.  There were some interesting dinner conversations at our table as well as a few tables down, but I won’t get into that.  Vaughn did see a guy wearing a Detroit Lions shirt and asked him about it.  Apparently he’s also originally from Michigan and lived in Grand Rapids for a period of time.  If I heard correctly, he went to the same high school as Vaughn’s dad.

After food, we went to a Wal-Mart parking lot for the night. None of us like shopping at Wal-Mart, but on tour it becomes a necessity.  Jr made the mistake of leaving Kim and I alone inside with his wallet. We got important stuff like water, creamer, sharpies and 6 pairs of devil horns, but we also ended up with new clothes and this deliciousness:

Translation = Wal-Mart uses cheap dye and this will fade

We got done shopping at 6 am, and it was pouring out. Jr had texted Kim as we were checking out to make sure we were alive since it had been a few hours, but he wasn’t responding to her texts about picking us up at the door, and not answering when she called. She even tried texting “You’re not coming, guess we better go buy more stuff.”  Finally around 6:30 Kim remembered the “Find my iPhone” app.  She used it to make his phone make a loud, piercing noise, usually used for finding a missing phone.  In this case it was used to wake up a Jr. So he came and picked us up so us and our stuff wouldn’t get soaked.

The next show was our last show with Psychostick :( :( :( It was at this little bar in Tallahassee, FL. It was an interesting place and group of people.  One of PS’s fans was celebrating her birthday and it was her first PS show ever.  She somehow got punched in the eye during the first song. A fight broke out too during the first band and a bunch of people were kicked out.  I heard later that they were then staring something in the parking lot and punching cars…?

It started out as a really boring night.  Other than talking to some people from the opening bands, no one was really hanging out at the merch tables.  I didn’t sell a single thing until just before One-Eyed Doll went on, and that was just some stickers. I passed the time hanging out with Matty and Alex from PS though.  So that was cool being the last night and all.  No, take that back.  I kept telling them that they’re not done and they’re playing the rest of our shows with us, so it’s not the last show :P *not in denial*

Rob from PS was jealous of all of my cool striped socks and would always ask me about where to get them and if they made them in men’s sizes.  I found a 4 pack of mismatched fun socks at Wal-Mart and got them for him.

Which leg is mine and which is Rob's?  I can't tell!

One-Eyed Doll’s set didn’t go so well this show.  There was something wrong with Kim’s amp so she had to borrow Josh’s. Then something happened with her guitar.  They only ended up playing about 4 songs, one of which was just Fight not the Fight/Monster mash up they usually end the show with.  People still really enjoyed them though.

I have no idea what the panda is all about...

Psychostick had some slight technical difficulty at one point, but over all they had a really great set.  They definitely ended on a high note.

Stop rocking to hard! My pictures are blurry!

Playing bass with a taco

The birthday girl

Cheers, with a shoe

More shoes

I think I mentioned it before, if PS does an encore, they do a super fun version of the Hokey Pokey. It’s really fun to dance to and one of my favorite parts of the show.  Most of the Florida shows haven’t really been a encore crowd though :( Rob knows the Hokey Pokey is my favorite, so he sarcastically told the crowd “We don’t do encores!” but the crowd didn’t get it, they all just assumed they didn’t do encores and left.

Salvador Dalí sticker in the bathroom!

Cool trees

Psychostick and One-Eyed Doll

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