October 11th, 2007.

I’m a moody bitch. I know this. My brain is a chaotic roiling mess. I know this too. But I think I really adore Columbia, Missouri. I like the people: I like talking to the people, I like looking at the people, I like being around the people, listening to them, et cetera. The creatures of Columbia are friendly. The cats too. A black cat crossed my path last night and it was omenless and not ominous. Just saying “hey” and wandering onward. This morning a sherbet cat and a stripey cat gave me all the Love that I could stand. I hope they’re still waiting for Heather when she pokes herself out of or little basement hidey-hole. They’ll make her smile.

The last couple of days have been a lot of fun. We’ve been on television, we’ve been on the radio. We played one of my favourite open mics in the country – the open mic at the Blue Fugue – and it didn’t let me down. I feel famous here – much like California, PA used to be, but on a larger scale. Everywhere we go people ask us if we’re that band from Maryland and they’re friendly about it. I asked a woman to repeat herself when she told me “I saw you on TV!!!” It’s like we’ve made it. If only for a moment. Still homeless, still poor, but feeling kind of appreciated.

Every day we’ve been wandering down to the Cherry Street Artisan for lunch, using their internet, listening to their music. Most places are just landing pads, but I’ve enjoyed the people at the Cherry Street alot. For the couple of days we’ve ben here we’re become recognized regulars (even if we are “recognized” as the people who probably don’t know what we want).

Last night we played a gig at the Blue Fugue – I was angry at myself for playing really, really poorly. I don’t even know what it was – LooseN slipped out of my grasp several times, once because I couldn’t hear my guitar, another time because I was trying to talk to the sound guy at a particularly stupid moment. We never did get the on-stage sound really dealt with, but the Blue Fugue is a particularly enthusiastic spot. Pine went horribly (I’m still not sure what happened with that but we reached the end of the song LONG before I thought it was appropriate), I broke a string during the beginning of Steel and Heather played Street Spirit on a different capo than usual, so when I tried to come in on it… well… it was bad news.

We sort of ironed things out after that, but really – that was the first half of our fucking set and I felt pretty poorly about it. We were still very well-received, and I’m getting comments from people here about the show last night…

I still feel famous.

And you can rent a whole house here for a couple hundred dollars. I know Rowan’s tempted….

Oh, and Kevin, the bartendar at the Blue Fugue introduced me to Chartreuse. So Lovely. And something raspberry… and this really Lovely tequilla… and… yum.