Oh my DEAR lord what a weekend. What a week! For that matter. I always get a little angsty when I feel we’re running full-tilt into our travels and if I’d been smart, I’d have closed myself off yesterday and had a day to myself… but I’m dumb.
This past Wednesday was my last open mic at Java Mammas. It’s not Ash’s open mic at Java Mammas and I’m kind of jealous. It’s like seeing your old girlfriend with her new boyfriend. No matter how happy you are that SHE’S happy, you’re always a little worried that the new guy takes care of her a little better, or is a little… well… ANYWAYS. I hope I’ll be able to take the reigns back when I return in November! I hope she’ll want to hand them to me. With the riding crop. And the spurs…
Thursday I went to have coffee with a friend. A rarity. I was in a coffeeshop and not asking for tips! I felt odd paying for my drinks. My hands itched from wanting to play. It was strange all around.
While I was at the till, the kid slinging coffee aboot was approached by a daughter and a sour-faced mother. They ordered their lattes and the daughter asked the mom to pay for it and the mother said “they’ll get their money when they’re done. I’ve got a headache” and walked out leaving the girl at the counter. Poor mom. She overcomes her headache and returns to plop her credit card down on the counter and the kid behind the register looks at the picture and remarks that it’s a nice one. “You’re all smiley!” The woman shoots him a deadpan look and replies “Yeah, that was before I was married.” His friendly smile falters as it becomes clear that it’s not a joke and she follows up with “Yeah, Bitch! The daughter grabs the coffee and her mom, mouths “sorry” and makes for the door. The kid behind the counter is like “oh my GOD tell me someone else saw that, I can’t believe that just happened!!!!” Much lamentation and comfort… such a bitter bitter creature shouldn’t be flapping around loose.
Friday night was our CD release. I spent the day running around – I dropped off my boots at a show in Bowie – the little old man was happy to get the flaming boots back and said he could sew them back together relatively cheaply. Then I ran over to Barnes and Nobles (my Rowan in tow) and dropped in on a friend from high school. We’d been in touch online and she was working in Bowie that day so there really was no excuse not to drop in…
Finally it was time to face our music and get on over to the Old Bowie Town Grill. I was worried for the evening – I mean, what if, after all this build up, people STILL didn’t come!!? I’d heard from a couple of people who I think of as centres or keys (the ones that rally others to come around them) who said they weren’t planning to come out.. It took a little time for the place to fill up, but even by the time Transcendent Third opened for us, the entire place was packed. Standing room along the back, packed tables everywhere else, full bar… Life was good. We sold a lot of CDs and people were even singing along with the songs by the end of the night.
Erica and Jade came down from California, PA and added their charm to the evening – Erica got up and sang with In the Water and No Place is Home and she was perfect. I still swoon when all three of our voices are together. We’ll have to learn her up on a couple of others and abuse her talents further.
And so after returning Rowan to his place of origin, loading my car for BEAR for
Saturday, I finally got back to the house at around 2.30am. I have to be up and out of the house the next “morning” by about 12.30pm and go find a couple of XLR cables before heading to Lanham to set up Mattstock. You’d think my brain would shut down and get me to sleep on time out of self-preservation – but no such luck. As usual, I’m up till dawn.
Saturday is crazy. I get new XLR cables but forget smoe mic clips and my mom saves the day by running back out to Atomic Music and picking some up. When I arrive at the site I’m impressed. I’m impressed at how much has happened since I was last there: stairs have been built, tables have been brought, a giant dance floor has been constructed… but I’m also impressed cause there seems a good distance to go yet: with 3 hours before people are supposed to arrive the stairs are tilted at a bizarre angle and the dance floor is yet to be carpeted – and there’s a VIP area to be built and WHERE are the caterers and no-one thought about how parking was going to work and… Things slowly came together, but it was kind of a frenetic panic the whole way. By the end of it, it was a damned cool space.
The stage, though vertiginous, was really cool to play on. There’s no intimacy with the crowd really – you’re simply too high up for that – there’s a lot of enclosed intimacy for us: it was a LOT like playing in our own little tree house or something, and though I’d been there since 3pm hauling speakers and dealing with panic and wrangling bands, though i was absolutely exhausted – I had a GREAT time grinning at Heather and Rowan and … well… whatever expression it is that I reserve for Sharif since sometimes he tries to kick me if I grin at him too much.
It was a rough day to be sure – the first band arrived LATE and though they were good, required a lot of organization. The moment I had three of them, the fourth would disappear. I liked them and think we’ll probably try an dplay together again, but I think I’ll probably be lying to them about the times… the second band was just a pain in the ass. Negative and disrespectful to the audience, out-of-tune and not-mentioning-they’d-fired-their-singer last week… Holly, where ever you are, I’m sure you feel my pain.
Slowly, slowly the night wraps up and we break down (ha) to disco being played by the DJ. The electric slide has been perpetrated along with many other travesties of motion (including the locomotion) and I’m oh so glad to shove everything back in my car and make my way home. People are tired, disappointed at turn-out, but satisfied with proof-of-concept… and it’s time to crash.
Back into the arms of my native insomnia… by now Heather and I are racing east on I-84 through Connecticut on our way to Hartford. We just past the glittering trails of a fireworks display, special for our passage. It’s been a beautiful day and I’m hoping for a beautiful night. We’re staying with one of my favourite people and I’m looking forward to spending some time with her. *swoon*
Life’s calmed and Life’s okay. We’re on the road again. Yay!
