Japan, i am in love with you...

this has been the year of travel...

The year started in Boston & Minneapolis with Neil, helping out on the Calendar of Tales project. It is finished now & you can download it HERE.

it's already June (can't quite believe that!) and i have been from the shark tanks of Australia to the soccer heart of Brazil, to the SXSW, Lollapolooza & Coachella festivals, but last week I got back from my first trip to Tokyo.

It's the first time i felt a magic home in such a foreign environment.

was working the Japanese dates of Ozzfest, for Slipknot, we shared the first night with Slash. Great music in the production office! it poured rain, but we were inside, so wet gear wasn't an issue. The TOOL crew loaded in the night we played so I got to see many of my favorite tour buddies-- a roadie reunion.

here our DJ tech models one of the Japanese record needles I had the runner find:

Shopping in the Shibuya district was exciting on so many levels, everything old was new again. little happy teeth scratchers!

My translator Yoshie took us to a shop called Toyku Hands, which is 7 floors w/three levels each, stocked full of EVERYTHING, one whole floor of watches, one whole floor of make-up I have never heard of or imagined. here is a shot from the fabric area:

going to the little mini-markets for breakfast, i found that they make their hard boiled eggs EXACTLY my style, a little underdone, the seven minute timer I do. Egg in a box! All the food was just what I like...

my cabbie drives past Toyko Tower:

there was a currency exchange machine in the lobby of our hotel, so i flipped some of my unused Australian dollars-- you just pop them in and out comes yen moneys. While I was there, conversion was easy, it was about one to one.

Such pretty cash, and I asked who were the people on the bills-- answer: novelists, artists, teachers...very civilized.

I have about a billion photos, but still have loads of prep to do before i push off this week to the UK, for the Castle Donington date of Download Festival, and a week in London. Cannot wait to put some pounds sterling into my wallet-- here is a shot of the shrapnel in my backpack from my trips.

the only time I will ride a tour bus this year is with my author boss, here is our tour schedule for his upcoming THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE last signing tour: CLICK FOR DATES. hope to see some of you out there!

AUSTRALIA!!

Life is moving at warp speed, I have to say, I am enjoying the mileage piling up on my frequent flier accounts. Flew alllllll the way to Australia, in support of two bands, both headed by my much-beloved boss, Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, both playing mostly different days, but on two wild occasions, playing on different stages at the same festival...a mad dash, and all done with grace under pressure. I have been working for different versions of all of MJK's bands since 2001-- never a dull moment.

We landed in Brisbane and had most of a day to ourselves before the first round, so I wandered the city and helped our production mgr Kahuna celebrate his birthday.

For the Soundwave Festival, the Australians assign a liaison to the bigger acts, we all got bag tags with BT on them, for our fantastic guide to all things Aus, Ben Turner. He runs the Enmore Theatre in Sydney which I fell in love with. (I see AFP is playing there in Sept, hope she gives Ben a big ol' kiss from me..

here's the Enmore lobby:

can you see the Sydney Opera House behind me? my runner Maria had a better time of keeping her hair out of her face in the wind.

I walked all around downtown Sydney, and took a break in the cools of the Aquarium. I am spoiled by the brilliant Baltimore aquarium, so I was slowly kicking my way through the beginning, until I got to the tunnels where you walk under sharks and stingrays and manatees and all manner of swimming creatures. I stayed transfixed for hours.

i took so many photos, but I will only post a couple, just know, it was a life-long dream to be that close to walking under the sea.

look at this crowd (behind our drummer, Mr. Friedl):

(photo by Joe Paul)

we had a night off in Sydney. Sarafina, our friend who moved from LA to Aus a few years back came and met me, and I told her I wanted to go to the world-famous AC/DC Cherry Bar. SHe agreed, with the caveat that it's a touristy place but that our laminates will get us in front of line. Before, heading to Cherry, we went to the Lucero show at the Palace, courtesy of Ali, and it was such a gorgeous bit of the Deep South down undah.

Sarah at our hotel bar!

the seats at Cherry:

It wasn't crowded at first, but then I started seeing all the security guys roll in.... the whole trip was constant roadie reunions, the band & crews of Garbage, Slayer, Tomahawk, Metallica, Blink etc all meeting up, I saw friends I hadn't seen in ages.

our TM with actual Roadies chips...

we had a ferris wheel in catering in Perth--(Joe Paul & Billy H.)

Allers and John Laff load out the Blink camp, just after I got back from seeing Ghost on the faraway stage:

Someone told me that Australia was like America 25 years ago in many things but prices (man, was it expensive) shopping in Australia, I found great magical things:

American metal in Aus!

we had a half day off in lovely Adelaide, I was sad to leave there:

flying over Perth, look at the difference:

What a trip--

I was home for a few days, before I was called to SXSW, for a quick meeting with Neil, that blog will be detailed over HERE on the Neverwear blog.

On Wednesday i fly to Brazil, and we do the rounds of Lollapolooza, which I can't spell... stay tuned!

Kitty's cyber garage sale is in progress....

In addition to getting the version three-point-oh of the MAKE GOOD ART hats up on the Neverwear site, I have just spent the last few days photographing and prepping some of my tour memorabilia from over the years--

here's my note to the ebay world: It's been awhile, I used to do so much back & forth on Ebay, but I have been touring so much, out on the road for over a decade, and when i am home I work as the merch queen/assistant to the amazing Mr. Neil Gaiman.

Some of my tours include: TooL, Rob Zombie, Britney Spears, Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga, Perfect Circle, Tori Amos, The Kills, Motley Crue, Deftones, Godsmack, and more. I have worked SO many local shows here in LA, I can't even go into it.

I have things from all these tours to share with the world. Little artifacts from a simpler time, haha. **ALSO Husband says, they have to go. Too little space here in the treehouse!

Will be rolling them out as time allows, I am touring Australia next month with A Perfect Circle & then I go to Japan with Slipknot. I have so many things to post, feel free to mark my page-- I am going under the assumption that it's ok to sell these old mementos, but if some or another boss comes out in protest, well, I will have to deal with that as the time comes. I had a giant yard sale, and it was funny, the attendees had no idea what I had. This is a cyber yard sale as none of the auctions will start at higher than 99 cents and none of them will have reserves. So! Let the bidding begin. CLICK HERE for KITTY'S CYBER GARAGE-SALE some samples:

I am also cleaning out my bead nation! I have bagged up loads of rare, vintage, gemstone, glass, Japanese hand-rolled, metals precious & not, findings etc, and am selling them in big batches like so:

watch here for updates! email me with questions! CLICK HERE for KITTY'S CYBER GARAGE-SALE ***Tonight, I am off to see Band of Skulls & Muse at Staples Center, then back at it.

a year ago today...

One year ago today, I got hit by a car. I was out on a tour w/a band and I was getting my luggage out from under the bus bay.

We were in San Francisco, that night we were going to play at the crazy Palace of Fine Arts.

My video guy Phil was off the bus, it was about 7:45 in the morning, and he was the only one that realized what happened when I was somehow lying in the middle of the road, unable to get up. Our bus driver didn’t even see it happen.

The driver of the car, a nice middle-aged lady, slammed on her brakes and got out of her car, ran over to me, crying, trying to pick me up off the ground. I couldn’t catch my breath, the car literally knocked the wind out of me. Later I would find that I had two broken ribs, but at the time, instinct takes over, maybe a little shock. I said, I am fine, when I could speak. It’s what you do when you are a roadie and not actually dead. We can’t get sick on our 16-18 hour days. We have no union, we don’t want to be sent home. So I said, I am okay.

But I wasn’t okay.

It hurt like hell. I still have a scar running down the left side of my back.

My runner that day drove me to the ER. His GPS wasn’t working in downtown San Francisco because of all the high-rises, so he pointed to a cluster of buildings and said, the hospital is over there, 2 doors down. I got out and started my torturous journey to that building. It was cold in SF, and I hadn’t thought to grab a sweater. The wind was blowing, and my shock was beginning to wear off. I was hurting.

Got into the building, which turned out to be a fancy hotel, and they said, ____ Hospital? Oh, that’s eight city blocks away.

Well, I got there, and I was looked at, and I begged the doctor to sign off on me so I could go back to the venue. He said, you really shouldn’t go back to work, you don’t know what else is going on besides broken ribs.

I went back via taxi cab and entered the venue to a round of applause. It really is a family when you tour. I finished the short time left on the road.

Smash cut to: the driver’s insurance company: California Casualty.

They recorded my version of the events. The agent, started off the call very nicely, saying, oh yes, pedestrian hit by car, our client was at fault, we will take care of your bills and give you some pain & suffering moola to boot.

I didn’t think much about it, and a month goes by, it’s the holiday season, I flew to my parents home back east in great discomfort, but I counted myself lucky that I didn’t die, or get more seriously injured.

The bills from the hospital and the xray technician etc. started to roll in. I had gotten several therapeutic massages, to ease the tissue around the ribs.

The insurance company, California Casualty, said, our client has changed her version of the events as you described. She says you jumped out in front of her car.

I said, You mean like a suicide??? The agent said, well…. your words, not mine.

So they didn’t deny any of my claims, they just said, we are still researching the case.

I went on to their website, and found that among their own clients, they had less than a 50% dissatisfaction rate with how claims were handled.

People said, get a lawyer. I am not a very litigious sort, and I called a couple, to be told that broken ribs aren’t a good case. One guy said, maybe if you lost a hand.

So I contacted the insurance company every month, saying, how is the “investigation” going?

For a good chunk of time, my assigned agent reported that she hurt her hand, so she could not email me. (!?!) I asked her how it would be answering the phone, she said she could manage.

She suggested I make a claim through my own car insurance. My car was hundreds of miles away!

This went on, until a week ago, when I got a letter from California Casualty saying:

The statue of limitations is up on your claim on December 7th, 2012.

That is today.

I never really cared about the money. It was more the principal of the matter. They almost surely raised their client’s premimum, and never paid out a dime. They probably do this all the time.

I feel so completely powerless. Does anyone else have any stories like this?

a long road...

It's been awhile since I have posted here, things are always boiling away on the stove. It's October and Halloween is my favorite time. also had my bday... so i was reflecting on my year.

With all the election bubbling over, something wasn't sitting fine with me. Some things stay buried, and then some things don't.

i don't want to go over and over it, but I posted some writing on my tumblr and then Mr. Gaiman did me a courtesy by reblogging and it went everywhere-

I got messages of love from so many people and also messages of pain, wanting to tell me their stories.

Just so there is a record of it here, i am posting a link to my tumblr.

Not trying to beat a dead horse, but am happy that I am not alone, drowning. We humans are fragile little beings. Anyway, I made loads of new magnets as therapy. If you want to see them, go

LOOKIT HERE.

RIP ABC III

We've returned from Armand's memorial service.
A overwhelming amount of love and support and tears.
Family, friends, rockstars, fellow roadies, even vendors came out in support of this guy.
He was well and truly loved, a spirit everyone wanted to honor.

35 is too young for any one to be done with this version of life.

The master of ceremonies, a well-spoken fellow, asked that we understand that not everyone could get up and speak about the way that Armand had touched their lives, so I was hesitant to share my stories and take someone else's spot. I had only been lucky enough to share one tour with Armand. A tour where I was the only female on the crew, a tour where i soon found that i had an extra brother in Armand.
I can still hear him, "That guy bothering you?"

Several times, the Zombie and SLayer crews had to crowd their gear in order to survive the rapid changoevers. Sometimes we were stuffed in to eachother's spaces, Armand and I both occupying the stage left corner, me at Rob's quick change, him tinkering with Kerry's guitars. He loved pretend-blocking my way. "Outta my way---dammmmnittt!"
Always with the "dammmmnnnnitt"-- especially if we ran out of popcorn in the production office.

I remember him telling me his Mom was ill, his frustration and lack of power to fix her was heart-breaking. That guy loved his Mom fiercely, as the good ones do. She must have been so proud of him, what he made happen in his life.
WHen I saw him after her death, he was raw, but he was happy that she was out of her pain.

I was at Tour Supply, just before working the Big 4 @ Yankee Stadium for Slayer last Sept, and I heard an unmistakable voice from around the corner, rattling off a list of things he was looking for. I snuck up on him, yelled "DAMMNNIT, they will let anyone in here" and got the patented ABC hug. He was so funny that day, giving me all the low-down, since I was only subbing for Kuney as the prod coordinator. "____ and ___ will need this, do NOT forget ____ and ____ etc" Always concerned with his crew's best interest, always looking after people.

He did not tech that NY show, due to schedule demands, and his absence was felt by all. Especially Warren, one of my favorite humans. Seeing Warren today, speaking the words I am sure he thought he had fifty plus more years to live before facing, I felt a crack in my armor, that's when it really hit me like a brick. Warren is fierce in his loyalty, and I can't begin to imagine his loss. I love you, Warren Lee.

One of his friends made everyone laugh today with the line, "Armand loved both kind of music, the Iron and the Maiden." It was such beautiful moment, to go from tears of sorrow to those caused by laughter.
Armand's cousin gave a brilliant little glimpse into him, he brought her backstage to a Slayer show, and before going in, she asked, "Are you ashamed to bring me backstage"-- indicating that maybe she was "uncool", and he said ".....Yes," which brought the house down. Always honest, always the arrow of truth! She went on in her story to say she was struck by how everyone was so nice to her and so welcoming, all of this done certainly as an extension to Armand, but also a testament to the great road family he had fostered. We are always glad to meet family, no matter how busy we are at our behind-the-scenes jobs. Several of the guys signing our paychecks at the end of the day showed up and gave tribute to ABC. It was a moment to reflect on while our jobs can be draining and possibly life-shortening, very rewarding. (i have heard a doctor say, one year on the road is equal wear on the body to five years in an office job...sounds accurate)

Many people at the service today mentioned that he was at his happiest at the very end of his life. I only knew him for a short time, and I didn't know Cass at all. But damn, he was so in love with her. The last time I saw him alive was the first and only time I met her, at a neighborhood bar, right before I went out on tour with Puscifer. He was on a break from GnR and so happy to be home with his lady. Today, it my heart broke watching Cass standing on that stage, struggling through her words, beautiful in her tears.

We all stop to think, how can I make a better life, how can I honor my family, my friends, my loves?
How can i make a bigger, better difference?" as someone said today, "How would Armand go about this?"

My eyes are swollen from crying but I know that i was one of the lucky people who got to share some time with him in his too-short stay here.
even Axl does a p.s. shout-out to ABC III in his open letter to the Hall of Fame.

May you rest in peace, you great big beautiful man. Much love to Cass and the whole extended family.

new tour dates announced!

Maynard's solo act is Puscifer, with the help of these lovely people:

Puscifer 2012 Tour Dates:
02/23 – Austin, TX @ Long Center
02/25 – Baton Rouge, LA @ River Center Theatre
02/26 – Memphis, TN @ Orpheum Theatre
02/28 – Nashville, TN @ Andrew Jackson Hall
02/29 – Louisville, KY @ Brown Theatre
03/03 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
03/04 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre
03/06 – Kansas City, KS @ Kansas City Music Hall
03/07 – Omaha, NE @ Omaha Civic Auditorium
03/10 – Edmonton, AB @ North Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
03/11 – Calgary, AB @ Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
03/13 – Vancouver, BC @ The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
03/14 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
03/18 – Escondido, CA @ California Center for the Arts

just can't wait to get back on the road again...