LOS ANGELES - 9/19
In LA I shared a room with Kathryn. We had a princess room. The hotel was this massive complex with a whole bunch of buildings and she and I wound up on the top floor in a tower like Rapunzel and our beds had high posts with little over-hangy thingies. And there were duck paintings on the walls. It was very rustic royalty. So in light of the princess-ness of the room, I decided to put on a little eye makeup like the classy broad that I am.
Later that night at the show, the bands manager was in town so I was able to run inside and snap a few photos while the band was playing. A rare treat for me on this leg of the tour, so I took full advantage!
The absolute highlight of LA for me was having the opportunity to hang with one of my favorite people - the lovely miss Jeneatha! We were busmates on Warped Tour this summer and I still cannot believe how lucky I was to walk away with so many amazing friends, like this lady. Ah, I adore her!
TUCSON, AZ
As much as I hated being in that minivan trucking our way across the US, it did afford me the chance to see some things that I most definitely would have missed out on had I been cruising along in a bus. This random truckstop was so desolate and strange. There were spiders in the tank of the toilet in the ladies room - ugh. To look at the place from teh outside you would think that there hadn't been people in there in ages, but there it stood and there we made
our pit stop. Crazy.
The open road does some pretty amazing things to your hair. Don't be jealous.
There was a pretty fantastic little cafe around the corner from the venue. In fact, that was pretty much all the town had to offer where we were. I must say, though, that any place with a little Prince in it is good in my book. And the coffee was very, very tastey.
BOULDER, CO
Boulder was another highlight for me. Checking into the hotel was quite a challenge, but absolutely worth it. My room was gorgeous and it was all mine! And the best part of all - I got to spend 2 whole days with another of my Warped Tour busmate and dear friend, Erica. She's an amazing person doing amazing things for a non-profit called Keep A Breast. And just look how cute she is:
Check out the room. They gave us robes and homemade chocolates in pretty packages.
The furniture in the common areas were beautiful, so naturally I made Erica pose for a few photos.
SLC, UT
The drive to Salt Lake City was mostly pretty flat, but some of it was pretty amazing. This country really is beautiful and so very different from place to place. This was the view from a random gas station somewhere along the way.
I kidnapped Erica and brought her to Salt Lake with us and then I made her sit merch for me for a few so I could snap some photos during the show. Actually, she offered to sell for me because she's just that awesome.
Boise was the last date of the tour. I was definitely ready for it! Touring in a minivan is not all that it's cracked up to be, my friends. I really feel for all of those bands that spend so much of their time touring in vans. It can be pretty exhausting. Ugh.
On a lighter note, the city and the venue were pretty cool. I managed to run around a little bit and snap some last day photos of the band during soundcheck. I even captured John making a stinkface!
John Collins looks particularly dashing here in Kathryn's hat.
I miss the lovely people in Lavender Diamond. They played the Ronettes "Be My Baby" during soundcheck at my request and wound up enjoying it so much that they played it during the
show. I love the Ronettes!
Chris from The Awkward Stage.
Shane from The Awkward Stage and Paul Rigby sporting some serious shades.
So that about covers the first leg of the New Pornographers tour. It was a little rough and I went through a whole list of emotions on that tour - happy, sad, cranky, grumpy, hungry, tired, excited, relieved, stressed... It was definitely something. I'm glad I did it. And the second leg proved to be even better than the first because I had a BUS! YESSSS! More stories to come...
