rain, fireworks & honey

woke in the black of my bus bunk to the sound of my phone, set to ring like sonar on a submarine. the hotel lady was ringing me at 6:45 am, to say, where are you? the answer to that, i didn't have readily available. to her credit, she pulled me out of my dreams and into the day.

we are driving through the green hills of kentucky, heading to a day off, or as we call them, a day without a show, i am up early to wrangle some dreamking details, as comicon is heating up and i am still out on tour. plus there are all sorts of other world travel plans forming and it is time to greet the day. thank all available gods the west coast is not open for business for a few hours. only have to deal with the new yorkers.

yesterday was Chicago and all the energy that is attached to that city. It has long been one of my favorite places, and i have found if you treat the union there with respect, it usually will go well.
the show was heavily sold. however, on one trip out to the buses, i was caught behind 2 huge security guards carrying a passed out blonde,who was wearing only a fuschia bra & jeans. Somehow, they dropped her & she didn't move. they both stood there, looking down at her, while i am yelling to the medics down the hall who were casually flirting with the security guards. They look up to see this poor girl splayed out on the venue floor and slowly saunter up. i was astonished. i really hope she is okay.


we had our last day off in st. paul, minnesota. i got to catch up with the famous stitliers, bill & sharon. bill is my number one crackerjack tech professional advice-giver & sharon is the bird chick, and she is also a boy magnet. we had a great time eating sushi, trading stories and catching up in general. the next day, bill brought me some goodies from dreamhaven comics.. thank you for such hospitality in the land of the vikings. my runner the next day at Xcel center also works for Prince and i heard they are having a big do up there on 7-7-07 at Paisley park. I do believe i could live in minnesota.

in the meantime, i got a blackberry (named toasty) and so far, we are not the best of friends. this phone doesn't change time zones automatically as i am used to. that alone is a feature i am not coming to terms with easily. also, perhaps it is the sunken venues we are playing, but i have not had service since i got him. toasty is very pretty, but as always with me, i need a little brains to go with any beauty. (it can probably all be billed back to operator error. )
This may seem like one long laundry list of complaints, but truly, this is not the case. I am having a wonderful time, learning everything and anything I can. This crew is so good and I feel part of the borg, if that makes sense. there is definitely something about advancing as a unit. I have taken so many pictures and seen some more of this world. the other day, walking around in Toronto with miss Lola, our wardrobe queen, i was deeply touched by the city, happy that we are going back for another show there...

here is a photo from out my hotel window during the rain over the train tracks, and i have to figure out which city that was exactly....
and yes, we are back to the old fireworks-in-the-parking-lot-during loadout...
*ok, hotel connection too slow for uploading, tomorrow will add*
in closing, i would like to send my sister much love and sympathy for the loss of her Honey, a beautiful and loyal friend to her over the years. (photo here)