The first year on the road, we didn't take many pictures.
We'll work on that this year. We also didn't blog much. We'll work on that too. Seems like we spent this first year on the road just trying to keep our heads above water and out of our asses and all of that, keeping the RV running and booking shows and screening t-shirts and printing cd's and mailing flyers. But we're pros at that now, right? ;-) so if we're lucky enough to get to do this another year, expect to see more words. and photos. and perhaps even videos. we're going to start with a brief recap of some of the amazing little goodies we've been given in the first year and a month on the road:
- in Kalamazoo, we were given an AMAZING winter coat (with a furry hood and built in velcro-neck-scarf-standin). This has come in handy during those moments when we've been stranded on the side of the road with David battling wind and snow to re-attach some vital whatnot that had come apart. we had a few of these moments.
- in Chicago, we were given a bag of leftover Halloween candy (Mike n Ike's and Hot Tamales!) and two loaves of whole grain wheat bread by a lady who liked RVs.
- in Milwaukee, we were given a copy of the Hedwig and The Angry Inch tribute CD (!!!!!) by The Fucking Wizard at The Church of Murray, which included tracks by Rufus Wainright, Sleater Kinney w/ Fred Schneider, They Might Be Giants, Frank Black, Robyn Hitchcock, Impreial Teen, The Breeders, Bob Mould, the Polyphonic Spree, John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, Stephen Colbert (?!), Yoko Ono and Yo La Tengo, Ben Kweller and Ben Folds and Ben Lee, Cyndi Lauper and The Minus 5, and Jonathan Richman....wow!
- in La Crosse WI, Jeff at JB's Speakeasy gave us a chili dog pizza. it was horrifying and delightful.
- in St. Joseph MO, we received a DVD of Cannibal! The Musical (starring Trey Parker, also featuring Matt Stone) by the incomparable Todd from The Way Station.
- in Kansas City, we scored 2 amazing pizzas - a) hummus tomato spinach kalamata stuff, b) some normal awesome supreme mix from Jerry's Bait Shop. (you'll notice pizza has made this list a few times. there is a good reason for that.)
- in Johnson City, TN, we bartered some music for an *amaaaazing* little painting of a Super Mario Bros. villian done by The Hideaway's incredible soundman at-the-time, John.
- in Riverview, FL, the good people at HooDoo Music gave me a new crash cymbal to replace my battered old one. these people were saint-ish and hosted an all day music showcase with incredible BBQ and black-eyed peas, and there were multiple chickens running around and roosting in orange trees. it was quite picturesque and awesome.
- at a gas station in randomville Iowa, we were given a Des Moines Register. this was the first and only daily newspaper in our possession all year.
- in Fayetteville, AR, Evan at The Smoke & Barrel Tavern graced us with a lovely bottle of champagne in honor of my pending birthday.
- in St. Paul, Ollie of Company Inc gave us a bicycle seat and post so that i could ride a complete and whole bicycle, which should be a much more comfortable experience. Emily of Company Inc (and Ollie by extension) also gave us multiple bars of homemade soap, scented with Earl Gray, and Lime, and Orange Creamsicle. they are awesome!!! and when you see us and we still stink, just know that it's not the soap's fault...
- in Madison, Nate from Droids Attack gave us a Fantasy Football trading card depicting a huge hungry man with beer, chicken, potato chips, and chinese take-out overflowing from his arms.
- in Chicago, the band with whom we're having a perpetual one-night stand, FCAB, gave us a crash cymbal to replace the last one i was given. i guess i go thru those crash cymbals.
These are the delightful little things that keep us going, and we love and appreciate the people who help us out as we roll along. It's also pretty likely that there are things we've been given over the past year that are slipping my mind right now...if you gave us something and we forgot to post it, it's probably because we enjoyed it so intensely in the moment and it has been integrated into our beings so wholly that we forgot it hasn't been a part of us all along. but more to the point, sorry about that. Maybe if i blogged more often, we wouldn't have that problem.
Okay, per my resolution, expect to see more bloggage, and all that goes with it.
Love is Lollipops,
Bekah (& David)
P.S. don't forget to sign
our new mailing list! then we can be sure to run into one another more often.
P.P.S. if that link doesn't work, which it probably doesn't because i'm not good at this, you can also find it on our myspace page. sorry about the extra step. ;-)