Post Tour

For 6 weeks this was my home

This was my messy bedroom

This was my family

Photos by Yacob

Photo by Johnny Zero

I got to hang out with a lot of awesome people day after day (many of whom I sadly didn't get pictures with)

Nosaj, all around awesome guy

Tristan, Otep's tour manager and the guy that makes everything happen

Erik, bassist for Otep

Adriana, Picture Me Broken's merch girl

Erik, Shaun, Justin & Jimmy

Met tons of amazing fans

I went to so many amazing places and had so many adventures.  It was such an amazing time, and it was really hard to go back to the "real" world after all of that.  But, that's where I've been stuck for the past month.  So, what have I been up to?

Well, the first week wasn't too bad because I took work off, plus Mike, Kim and Junior were still in the LA area.  So I caught up on sleep, hung out with them, and did one of my favorite things that I wasn't able to do on tour - BAKE!

A few days after tour ended, we all met up where we started - back in Little Tokyo having $2 sushi boats.  This time Rob Ross joined us.  We discovered that there's a cool little vintage thrift shop across the street from the sushi place.  We also learned I may have dislocated a rib on tour...  I can't remember how much I wrote about it, but I had that really bad cough for a while, and soon my side was super sore.  Once tour finally ended and I had time to deal with it, I noticed that one of the ribs was sticking out of line from the others.  Plus it was still extremely painful to sneeze.  It wasn't as painful in general anymore since I wasn't carrying around tubs of merch on a nightly basis, but it was still sore.  I was telling them about this, and Rob Ross looked it up on his phone.  Apparently it's possible to dislocate a rib from coughing.  I've looked into it though, and it seems like if it was actually dislocated it would be a lot worse and a lot more painful.  *shurgs*  It's a month later now, it's better, but I think it's still out of line a bit and every so often lifting something or sneezing makes it hurt.

After sushi we all went to see "Oz: The Great and Powerful."  It was super cool because part of it was filmed in Michigan and a lot of local actors I know are extras in it.  My friend/Corey's acting coach Ralph even has a featured part.  If you've seen it, or are going to, he's the girl at the beginning's dad.

After Oz we hung out at Rob Ross' until some ridiculous hour in the morning before I finally told them I needed to get home before I fell asleep.  We spent forever looking up directions and trying to decide what the best way for me to get home, but it didn't matter because in the end Mike ended up coming back with me so he could hang out, and sleep on a couch rather than the floor.  He got to try my awesome nutella cupcakes.

I sent some back with him and Rob Ross, who'd heard of them, got to try one.  Right after he sent me a Facebook message letting me know they were "amazingly delicious!"  I also discovered that the Wine Bar down the road my friends preform at has a open mic night on Sunday nights.  So that's were we took Mike Sunday night.  He only got to play 2 songs, but for a change he got to play for someone other than just me.   He also met a guy that works at the wine bar, who also played at open mic night, that's originally from Austin.  How crazy is that?  They exchanged contact info, and now Mike has another connection both in LA and Austin. Since tour he's been doing a lot of open mic nights in Austin and setting up shows with his band mate.  If you live in the Austin area, you should go bug him on his music page and get him to post when and where he's playing.

Besides Nutella cupcakes, Corey and I made homemade pretzels

I baked more of the cranberry walnut bread I brought on tour for Mike, Kim and Junior

 
Corey made some awesome homemade Risotto

Eventually, Mike had to go back to Austin :(  We had a going away party at Rob Ross'  Kim made some awesome dip, we had a bunch of snacks, and watched "Les Misérables."  Kim thought Rob Ross' sandal looked like a bikini bottom, so she turned his foot into a girl.

I don't think I mentioned it, but when we were in Austin, Kim let me raid her costume closet.  I found an awesome black dress that fit me, and it came on tour.

I was hoping to buy some purple ribbon to switch out the black, then wear it with my black and purple stripped stockings, but we never made it to a craft store :(  It got to be the last few shows of tour and I hadn't worn it yet, so in Phoenix I ended up wearing it :)  After tour when we were getting my stuff out of the limo Kim gave it to me :D  *fan girl squee*   :D  So I now own a Kimberly Freeman costume piece :D

Eventually my time off ended and I had to go back to work :(  After being gone for 2 months, I still remembered how to do everything and was able to jump right back in.  It was still super weird being back though.  It's sad because I really like my coworkers, the job itself isn't that bad, but dealing with the busyness, being understaffed,  ridiculous customers, the corporation I work for being clueless, etc, etc, etc. I really hate going to work.  The hardest part about being back the first day was not making sarcastic comments every time a customer asked something stupid.  Junior and Kim are trying to figure out a way I could work for them full time, which is awesome, but I also want time to do my own costume stuff.  So at the moment, my life is crazy up in the air and I have no idea where I'm going to land.  But that's ok because everything always seems to work itself out in the end :)

End of Tour

Well, I've been back in the "real" world for a couple of weeks now, so I figured I should probably write what I remember of the last few days of tour.

Hand puppets from Spring Lake Park, MN taken by Yacob the Swedish Ref

After the Dallas show we picked up Paulo who was our much needed driver for the last few shows.  It was nice to have someone to drive the 5-10 hours between shows for us so we could just sleep, yet still get there at a decent time.  From Dallas we went to Albuquerque, NM.  Because Picture Me Broken was driving themselves, they were super exhausted when they got to the venue.  Shaun (PMB's drummer) came back from a nap to find that Justin (Otep's drummer) set up his set for him.  Justin's a pretty awesome guy!

Despite being close to the stage, my pictures turned out terrible.  It's really frustrating.  I did get video of Kim's fingers moving ridiculously fast on guitar.

The next day was Phoenix, AZ.  Because we had a driver, we got there early!!!!  YAY!  Paulo has a friend that lives just down the road from the venue, and he offered his house to us while he was at work.  Paulo was able to sleep in a bed, Kim and Jason got to take a nap, we all got showers, and I finally got to go swimming!!!!!!  For some reason I'd been wanting to all tour, and I finally had time to.  It was really cold, and Mike didn't last long, but I was so excited there was a pool that I swam for quite a while.  Mike and I also used the hot tub.  After I got done swimming and took a shower, everyone was still asleep to Mike and I walked down the road to a coffee shop.

I climbed a tree on our way to get coffee.  But I scraped my arm in the process.

We had coffee at this awesome little cafe/bar/restaurant called 32 Shea.  We ended up taking Kim and Junior back there later after lunch.  By we got back from our walk, they were awake so we went to get food.  Just a bit down the street from 32 Shea was a fun Thai restaurant Sala Thai.  I had some AMAZING vegetable curry.  The sauce was so good I could have eaten just a bowl of it on it's own.  I wish they sold jars of it.  They also had this fun fish tank with fake fish in it.

We also had to stop at a store because Junior lost a shoe.  We think it fell out of the limo at a stop in the middle of the night.

The venue in AZ was weird.  They had a special area for 21 and up.  You weren't allowed to leave the area if you had a drink, so several people chugged their drinks just so they could use the restroom.  Really responsible, venue...  Also, Otep's merch was in an area where everyone could get to it, but we were right on the edge of the 21 and up area.  Only 1 minor at a time was allowed in the area, and they were only allowed 5 minutes at our table.  At one point a mom and her 2 daughters were looking at OED stuff, when the security guard told them only 1 minor at a time, which scared them off.  He was really apologetic though, and was just going what he was told.  Picture Me Broken's merch table was completely inside the 21 and up area, so pretty much NO minors could get to their table.  After their set, during signings, Brooklyn had to leave the table and go outside of the area just so a boy under 21 could have his picture taken with her.  It was ridiculous.  It seems like the venue would have merch set up along the other wall, which isn't in the 21 and up area, so there wouldn't be these issues.

Once again, where merch was set up I was close to the stage, but my camera is so old pictures sucked.  But, here's video of part of Scorpion Death:

Despite the 1 minor at a time thing, Kim stood inside the 21 and up area so fans would have to come past the table to see her.  They formed an orderly line, security stood by, and it wasn't an issue :)  There was a HUGE issue at the end of the night though.  I'm not going to get into it, but there's all of this crazy, behind the scenes politics that goes on with touring and merch sales.  It really sucks.  At several venues security for Otep during her post show signings was blocking our table, or directing people away from our table after they got their picture/autograph.  This venue was the worst.  There was literally a wall of 3 security guards blocking off the 21 and up area, which meant that after they were done with Otep, they couldn't get to our table.  They were directing people around the the other side.  Junior found out that there was a security guard at the other side telling people they weren't allowed in that way either.  So unless they were already in the area, or they snuck under the divider, there was NO way to get into the area where our table was.  Junior discovered this because there was a girl who's birthday it was, near tears because she just wanted to meet Kimberly, and security wouldn't let her in.  Junior tried to get Tristan to work it out since security was just doing what they were told, but that caused HUGE issues.  Because of it, we almost got screwed over at the last show, but since it didn't happen, I'm not going to write about it publicly.

The last show was back in LA at the Whisky a Go Go!  This is another venue special to me because I saw OED and Otep play here last year, 2 days after I moved to LA.  This was the first tour Otep was doing signings after the show, so I got my picture taken with her, and met Rob Ross, Jeremy, Heather, and a lot of other awesome OED fans.

Back before Otep wore gloves and a mask at signings

Jeremy, Heather, Rob Ross, Me, Corey

I woke up as we were driving into LA.  I wasn't exactly sure where we were, but I knew by the way things looked and the highway we were on that we were close to the LA area.  It was weird, and for the first time since moving out here, I was not excited to be in LA.  We dropped Kim off at Rob Ross' to get more sleep, then Paulo, Junior, Mike and I went to find some breakfast.  Mike found a place called The Little Next Door.  It was kind of part way between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood.  The waiters were dressed in button up shirts and ties, meanwhile I was wearing my rockstar sunglasses, chrome Happy Stabby shirt, pink leopard print PJ pants, and flip flops.  Super classy :)  Food was ok, I had some sort of Benedict Florentine (Junior's French toast looked AMAZING), but I got a couple of pastries before leaving and they were awesome!!!

We got to the Whisky early hoping to work out some of the issues from the day before, but no one else was there.  We got set up early though, which was nice for a change.


Mike playing drums for sound check at the Whisky A Go-Go:

The show went really well, I saw a lot of people I met at last year's show, and my roommates and friends came out to see me!  :D  After the show we did the VIP thing, but I think it was mostly just super fans and a few VIPs.  Corey got to tag along.  We ran into Nosaj and Justin at the diner we went to.  I think my brain realized it was the end of the tour, because I was SUPER tired that night.

Kim drew us all unicorn pictures on our place mats

A cop searching a unicorn for drugs

It was getting to be about 4am, and we were all exhausted, so we unloaded my stuff from the limo into my car and Corey drove me home.  Not before I started crying though.  We had a big group hug and said our goodbyes.  Even though they were going to be in the area for a while (which I'll write about later), it was still sad that the tour part of our adventure was over.

A weeks worth of events

Wow, I started this weeks ago, but the last two weeks went by so fast.  For now, I'll post what I had up through Dallas, then finish the rest in another post.  Don't worry, now that tour is over it won't just be lame posts about me having to go back to real life.  I'm hoping to post entries with fan tips, things to expect if you ever want to go on the road, and other various things :)

I'm over a week behind due to the occurrence in the last post (now 2 posts ago...),  so this will probably be long, and I'll probably forget a lot.

Monday the 8th was our first day off since our unintentional day off when Kim didn't have a voice.  As mentioned in a previous entry, we spent it doing laundry and trying to catch up on things.  That evening we headed into Chicago.  We had dinner at an insanely nice sushi restaurant, then headed over to a jazz club called Green Mill.  My friend Jeff that lives in Chicago came to hang out with us.  It was awesome to see him, but I felt bad because it was a nice jazz club where they don't allow you to talk so everyone can enjoy the music.  So we pretty much just sat there, and it wasn't for very long because we were all exhausted, but I think Jeff had fun anyway :)

Second course of the Vegetarian Tasting

Tuesday's show was in South Bend, IN at a bar called Cheers.  It was another place that seemed like just a bar the happened to have bands playing that night.  After Otep's sound check they started playing house music, and the very first song they played was an Otep song.  Who plays Otep music at an Otep concert?  It was weird.  The whole night was really weird and merch sales were terrible.  I did meet awesome fan Joel who helped me tag a ceiling tile for OED, and we had one single VIP that night named Allison, who was going to be at the next 5 or so shows as well :)  That night was also terrible for my cough.  People occasionally started smoking not realizing it was a no smoking show, merch was near the back patio door where people were smoking, and as soon as Otep left, the entire bar was full of smoke.  One guy who was asked not to smoke earlier had 2 lit cigarettes in his hand.  Apparently he had to make up for lost time?  My head is pretty much un-stuffed, but my lungs are still full of crap and all of the smoke did not help.  I spent a few nights sleeping sitting up in chairs because I would cough all night long if I tried to lay down :(  But it keeps getting better and I'll live :)

Joel and My ceiling tile :)

While in this area we ended up going to the same coffee shop and Italian/Greek deli/market next door 3 times.  We stopped there one morning because it was our close to our hotel room and liked to so much that we went back the next morning as well.  Mike apparently liked it so much that he left his credit card there so we could go back the next day as well :)  I think it was called Busy Bee Imports or something, but I can't remember what city it was in our where I put the business card I picked up :(

Wednesday we were in Joliet, IL.   We were early so we stopped at a post office for shipping supplies.  Once we got everything loaded into the venue, Junior and Kim went to work getting some orders packaged up.  A couple of the people at this show ended up picking up their orders, and the rest that we got packaged up were mailed out Thursday morning :)  There are still a lot more to do, but the tour's almost over (boo!) so the rest should be going out soon.  One time when I went to grab someone's order for them, the door locked behind me and I was stuck in a back hallway.  I tried banging on the door, but that door opened to the stairwell, not the door directly connected to the area we were in.  So I had to quick run outside in the rain and come in through the front door.  Oh the adventures...

The crowd in Joliet was amazing!  This was one of the best shows so far!

Picture Me Broken

Kim's multiple arms

Killing Scorpions

OTEP!!!

Otep's multiple arms...

Jeff made it out to this show!  Just barely :(  He got there for roughly the last 2 OED songs, and he wasn't really into Otep.  If I had thought ahead I would have put him on the guest list.  I also met a fan who has been reading this and Mike's blog.  *waves*  I didn't catch your name though :(  He has some awesome blogs over here you can check out though!

At the end of the night, like every night, Otep came to the merch area to do signings and photos.  I clapped as she walked by, as I do every night when we have merch in the same area.  But this night, as she walked past me, she motioned like she was pretending to tickle me.  *fan girl faint*  Try to imagine tough girl Otep, wearing her spiked mask and crazy contacts, pretending to tickle a merch girl wearing a tutu.  It's impossible, but it happened, I swear!

Still doesn't make her less intimidating

That night after the show we had something like12 VIPs!  I think it was the biggest night yet.  Karl, whom I met at a VIP thing during the Orgy tour was there.  Jeff got to come along too and be an honorary VIP.  I rode with him in his car to make up for not getting to talk to him all night.  Plus it made room to let some VIPs ride in our sweet Sprinter.

Jeff's car has a folder full of cats!

The next show was in Rockford, IL at a bar that used to be a strip club.  Over all, I was not a fan of this place and kept getting a "we need to get out of here ASAP once the show is done" vibe.  At one point a fan came and told me he was really glad we came to their little city, but didn't understand why we were there.  He said that Rockford was something like the 8th most dangerous city in the US.  I looked it up, according to one list, it's not that high, but it is on there.  Then again, so is Battle Creek.  The night started out rough.  We got there late, as always, merch was weirdly set up on top of bar tables along a wall so I standing in the crowd.  Everyone's stuff kept going missing.  They were using masking tape with "Security" written on it to distinguish the guys that worked there.  One of the opening bands used a fog machine and filled the place with smoke.  At one point I went to run to the bathroom quick before OED went on.  It was a single restroom, the door didn't lock, and there were 6-8 girls waiting ahead of me.  By the time Otep went on I was pretty over this place.  I was also afraid of being right next to crowd during her set, so I hung out downstairs in the greenroom while Jason watched the merch.  That night we had 2 repeat VIPs, Josh from the Austin show, and Allie :)

Another reason I wasn't a fan of this place - because we were late, we did a super quick unload.  As I was setting up I realized that the vinyl's of Dirty were missing.  Luckily the limo was still parked out back, but all of the boxes and tubs we weren't using that night were packed back in.  There was a little gap just big enough for me to fit in, and the box of vinyl's were straight ahead.  They were packed between and around other boxes, so I really had to yank to get them out.  I managed to pull them free, but hit my head on the corner of the metal brace that goes around the storage part of the limo.  Ouchie :*(

Friday, on our way to the Spring Lake Park, MN was the drug search incident.  Despite everything we still got there in plenty of time to set up.  It was a weird bar though.  When we got there they were playing honky-tonk country music and doing a meat raffle.  In addition to a concert, they also had poker night or something going on.  It was a good show though.  VIP Jacob hung out with me when OED wasn't performing. We made hand puppets.  Kimberly gave Mike and I shout outs <3  She even offered 30 second make-out sessions with Mike with every CD purchase.  We sold a lot of CDs that night.  Mike however was busy breaking down gear and loading the van, so there was a lot of disappointed fans :(

Saturday we were in Waterloo, IA.  Merch was in back again, so I got really bored.  For some reason there was all of this Studebaker stuff on the wall next to us.

Can someone explain to me the connection?

I learned that Tristan was the one that put tape on the backs of the guys in Rockford.  He needed a way to tell them apart since they were just wearing street clothes.  At this show, he used neon pink duct tape.  He had me write "Security" on it because I have prettier hand writing.  One of the guys said "No drawing hearts or anything" so, of course, I did draw a heart on one.  I wish I had gotten a picture.  There was a guy at this show with a creepy split tongue.  He said he just had it done Sunday so he was still getting used to it and had a bit of a lisp.  *shudder*  Kim learned at our last VIP with Allie that she was hoping to get into concert photography, so Kim got her a photo pass for this show.  She got to be right up on stage to take photos rather than trying to take them while being shoved around in the crowd.  You should go check out her facebook page - Allison Lesch Photography!!!!  It was raining when we tried to load out at the end of the night, so we sent our VIPs, which we had quite a few of, to Perkins while Allie and I helped Mike load.

Sunday we were in Merriam, KS.  One of the openers did a cover of the Cranberries' "Zombie," which I found thoroughly entertaining.  There seemed to be a lot of technical difficulties that night.  Kim's guitar kept coming unplugged to the point that Mike just had to crouch there and hold cords together.  Even Otep was having issues with the mic.  It threw her off so much that she screwed up the end of one of her songs.

Every show Otep tries to get a walking circle pit going.  Sometimes they're ok, sometime the audience really sucks.  This show, they were amazing!  Definitely the best walking pit of the tour!  Over all, this was either a really good show and epic crowd, or I was really tired and had to be extra into it to stay awake.  Maybe a combination of both.

The next day was another day off, but a lot of it was spent driving to TX.  It was nice to be able to take our time though.  Jason stopped at the bank and across the parking lot was an awesome tea place, so we checked that out.  I had an awesome tropical tea with mixed fruit jellies in it :)  It was also really warm that day, so I wore a tank top.  We'd spent the past 2 days sleeping in the limo and I hadn't showered, so I shaved my arm pits with water from a water bottle while sitting in the limo.  This is the super glamorous lifestyle of a merch girl you usually get to know about :)

The sugar substitute at the Chinese place where we had lunch

Tornado forming?

After sleeping in a car for 2 days and not showering, we got to the Dallas area where we stayed at Johnny Zero's mansion.  Yes.  Mansion.  Kim and Junior live a crazy lifestyle.  Johnny Zero's another name I know from the One-Eyed Doll internet world, and it was cool to meet him in person.  We met up for dinner at a sushi place in his neighborhood.  Junior told him I was a vegetarian, so he ordered California rolls for me.  We got there, and Junior informed him that California rolls have crab in them (well, usually imitation crab made from fish).  I ordered some cucumber rolls though, and it all worked out.  Johnny told me to write all about it in my blog, so here I am, writing about it :)

The day we arrived in Dallas also happened to be the day Johnny Zero's CD arrived!  So in addition to just hanging out and relaxing at his house, we had a mini CD release party!  You should like his Facebook Page and check out his website because he's pretty awesome!

"This chair is a shoe!"

Kim's hair is the only thing holding this chair up

Foosball championship

Brian and Brian

Cheers to the CD release!

Tuesday before the show, we cleaned out and organized the van.  Junior picked up even MORE merch, and I sorted out what we needed for the rest of the tour so we could leave what we didn't need at Johnny Zero's.  Junior also wanted a full inventory count of what we were leaving there.  They left me there, went to set up for the show, and Johnny and I got to work.  Eventually it was about the time Johnny needed to leave to make the show. There were still a ton of boxes left, so I ended up staying.  I missed the show :( but we now have a full count of everything.

Don't ever tell Jason it's ok to store things in your garage.

SO MANY BOXES!!!!

Johnny said the show went really well, and he sent me some pictures to post.

Aaaaaaaaaand, that seems like a good place to stop.  I'll get to the last few shows of tour, which was had an awesome driver for, next time!  <3