Pay It Forward...at a Truck Stop

So the last few days have been a blur, as usual, and we've landed for a mini-sit down in Valdosta, GA so I thought I'd drop a line! Since I last posted we've performed in Montgomery, AL and Niceville, FL, both very wonderful places and with a little bit of history at that. The theatre we performed at in Montgomery was actually directly across the street from where Rosa Parks was arrested on the bus, kicking off the entire civil rights movement. There was a sign commemorating the spot, as well as a library on that block now, though I thought there'd be a little more to see than a sign. But here's the pictures of Montgomery's theatre, which was cool because it used to be an old movie house:

Our hotel room in Montgomery was easily the nicest we've had so far, it was a Wyndham hotel with memory foam beds and excellent decor, I'll include a picture.

These beds were deceiving because they looked soft and fluffy and so my roommate did a running belly flop on it, only the have the wind knocked out of her by the memory foam. There's very little instant give with those mattresses.

After Montgomery we headed to Niceville, FL, a sunny little marina town with a nice view of a Taco Bell. This is what was on the website of the hotel:

This Niceville, FL hotel is the perfect location for government contractors, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) School, military training and Duke Field guests.


There was a marina right up the road, with a huge boat house and great view of the water:

As you can see by our dressing room, the theatre was pretty nice. It was in Northwest Florida State College's PAC that must be pretty new because everything still smelled clean. At least the girls' dressing room did.

Here's the Mattie Kelly PAC in Niceville:

And tonight we're in Valdosta, before returning to Florida tomorrow. On the way here we stopped at a Flying J for lunch, at which I scored some free bungee cords! I was going to buy two to keep my behind-the-seat organizer from swinging so freely from the seat in front of me and as I looked them over a trucker came up to me and said "You're not gonna buy those are you?" "Yes." "Well don't buy those, I've got a ton of em in my truck, I'll go get you some." and I told him what size and he went and got me two brand new bungee cords that are now keeping my behind-the-seat organizer from swinging. That's some amazing karma and I want you to know trucker man that I'll pay it forward! At that same truck stop my friend had a coupon for a "build your own grand slam" and he did, but he also wanted pancakes. When he asked for them our waitress, Margie, said, "Now I can slam it up for ya but yer gonna hafta pay that 99 cents." Later she told us a story about how she punched her son when he said "shutup" to her. He said it twice and she knocked him out cold, her daughter ran over and said "you killed him!" She told her, "if he wakes up, tell him I will if he talks like that to me again." That's a girl!

And who would have known that in a small town Florida Flying J I'd get some free stuff and a great Denny's experience? I didn't.

12 Days = 2 Seasons On Tour

We've only been on the road 12 days?? Feels like its been forever! Not entirely in a bad way though, mostly because when we got to Florida the other day it was about 80 degrees and we went swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and 11 days ago I was playing in the snow near Canada. I'm sure all of this is really healthy for my body. Although I've come to the conclusion that I can't really have allergies on this trip because we don't stay in one place long enough. My sinuses don't have time to get used to any one climate except that of the bus, which, if it smells like this after only 12 days lord knows what it'll be like after 3 months. Socks. That's all I'm saying, nobody gets paid enough for that. We do have a little recycling initiative going on the bus however, we have separate trash bags and when we can we unload the recycling at grocery stores or hotels.

I'm attaching a few pics tonight, from the floor of the classy Quality Inn in Panama City, FL. The first (blue theatre seats) is the Yukey in Lakeland, FL, where we were on Tuesday. The second, (reddish purple seats) is the Van Wezel in Sarasota, and the third, (purple-y-er seats) is the Marina Civic Center in Panama City. If you notice, I've stopped taking the pictures and am simply Google imaging the houses. You can usually get a better photo quality. With the exception of the Marina Civic Center, I just couldn't find diddly on that one. The Van Wezel is memorable because they had signs everywhere that said "van-WAY-zel" and then had a picture of a weasel in a circle with a line through it. They must get that a lot.

The highlight of this week would definitely have to be Wednesday in Sarasota. We decided the night before to leave an hour early so we could have some time on the beach. If any of us knew how fantastic the beach would be though I think we would've driven through the night to get there first thing. I haven't been to the Gulf of Mexico in a minute and I forgot what beautiful blue waters were there. It was a nice change from the I-Don't-Know-What-That-Is Foam and random garbage of the Jersey Shore. First thing I did was go buy some flip flops. I was kind of mad at myself for not bringing some, but I figured it was winter and we wouldn't be anywhere beachy. I lucked out though and found the Flip Flop Shop in downtown Sarasota and bought a sweet (albeit a teensy pricey) pair of flips made from yoga mats! It might be the most comfortable thing I've ever owned. A couple of us got a pizza and took it to the beach, smart move until the a-hole seagulls caught on. But I got to see a baby seagull! It was so tiny and running very fast. We hunted for some seashells and took pictures, I've attached some below, and we all got a liiiittle sunburned even though we put on SPF 30. It was worth every minute though because we made new friends on the beach, bartering pizza for the use of a stranger lady's flat sheet.

I do believe the highlight of the beach visit for me however was at a point when I was standing about waist high in the water and talking to my friend Brian who all of a sudden started screaming "FIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!!!" and pointing at the water around me. Apparently I attracted a school of small fish and they were swimming all around me. Of course my natural reaction was to scream and run (but not really run, more like the awkward "I'm trying to run in water" run) out of the ocean as though he was screaming "SHAAAAAAAAAARK!" I loved beach day. I've decided that I want to retire to Sarasota though...you reading this Randy? ;-)

So now I'm chillin in Panama City (the American one) and tomorrow we leave for a gig in Alabama before coming back to Florida for a few more shows. I still have no concept of what day it is, I genuinely cannot remember where I was yesterday without thinking for a second, and I cannot tell you what room number I have today. Every fact of my existence changes daily, so I've been reduced to very short term memory and only retain things on a need-to-know basis.

That's all for now, see you in Alabama!

Photo Courtesy of Michael Tedesco

I'm the one on the floor, believe it or not.

We In the South Y'all

So we finished up in Newport News, VA and our next gig is in Lakeland, FL which means a bit of a roadtrip. So yesterday we drove from Newport News to southern Georgia (I only say that because I completely forget the city) and this morning we're finishing the drive to FL. Yesterday was a pretty good travel day in spite of 10 hours on the bus, we got out for a rest stop in South Carolina and it was a pretty balmy high 60s and even warmer when we got to Georgia. The rest stop in SC was interesting because the cashier heard that we were a theatre tour and asked if we could come sing something. So about 15 of us went in and sang a gospel song that was taught to us by our musical director, and they loved it. If you'd have asked me a month ago if I thought I'd be singing in southern gas stations by now I don't know what I'd say, because we were just barely starting rehearsals.

After that gastravaganza we went on to have lunch in Georgia during which 2 things happened. We had a very lovely waitress, Tammy, who was the very image of southern hospitality. I got sweet tea, which made my day, and when she asked if our food was good and we said it was, she informed us that "well if it isn't fried, dyed, and laid to the side we ain't servin' it." She then proceeded to tell us stories of her niece who's a traveling nurse and has been in NYC for two years and doesn't want to leave. After that I decided to use the little girls room before getting back on the bus. As I was washing my hands I heard an unmistakable tinkling and looked up in the mirror to see a gentleman peeing in one of the stalls, door open and all. When he finished I was still washing my hands, looking at him like he's crazy, and he turned around and saw me. "HOLY MACKEREL! OH HOLY MACKEREL I can't believe I did that. Shoot, is this the women's? Oh holy mackerel!" I saw him again as I was walking out and he was exclaiming, "I KNEW somethin was missin' from that bathroom!" I'm so glad my friend Ryan saw him come out as well because I don't think anyone would have believed me otherwise. Sheesh.

Well, I'm fixin' to get on the bus and sleep my way to Florida :-) and apparently our hotel on Wednesday is right on the beach. I'll get some pictures up of tonight's venue when I get back from the show, and in other news, the La Quinta in Brunswick, GA smells like a pet store. Holy Mackerel.

This is Not the Beach.

I'm a little disappointed we don't have a view of the ocean, however at least everything isn't covered in snow. I've got a couple more pictures to add, the theatre with the wooden walls is Johnstown, and the theatre with the plush decor, stained glass signs and mural on the ceiling is Uniontown, which was actually an old vaudeville house. A couple of us were chatting last night about the history these places must have, I'm kiiiind of hoping we see a ghost...

I also stole the first picture of Newport News from my friend Brian Drummy and the second from Todd, this house here is seriously so huge I have no idea how to even take a picture of it. But his pic captures how tall it is and the industrial look of it which I really dig. It has to hold a few thousand people at least, what with a huge orchestra section and two balconies and box seats, all of which were full last night.

We've got one more show at Newport News today and then we have tonight off before a long day of driving to Florida tomorrow. I don't know if I'll be able to blog from the bus tomorrow but I'm pretty sure I can predict exactly how the day's going to go :-)

So I'll sign off for now until Florida!

Home State Advantage!

Hi guys!

So we've played a couple great venues, with many more to come. Johnstown was a beautiful theatre, with rich wood walls and great, big dressing rooms. I'll attach some pictures of the theatre spaces in Elyria and Johnstown, and we head out to the Uniontown theatre in about a half hour. We keep coming into snow though, which is pretty annoying since a lot of people like to sleep on the floor of the bus! I think by far this current hotel in Uniontown is least visually pleasing. The curtains are striped, the carpet is a checked pattern, the quilts on the bed are tropical flowers, one of the chairs is plaid, and the other chair has giant leaves on it. Simplicity.

I neglected to write about my birthday spent on the road in my last post, it was a lovely day! I was made Bus Princess for the day, which means I get to wear a crown and pick the movie. YES! My lovely roommate Angelica also made me a card, which the whole cast signed, so it'll definitely be worth something someday. I also got some other gifts from folks including one of my favorite movies and an Orange Julius, and our lunch stop was at a mall. What more could a girl want? (Besides an eyebrow wax, which is very hard to find on the road apparently.) All in all it was a great birthday!

Not much to report other than my parents are coming to show tonight YAAAY as well as my voice teacher Lynney YAAAAY and it will be so good to see all of them!

So check out the pictures of Elyria and Johnstown, the house shaped like a V is Elyria, OH. I'll update again from Newport News, VA tomorrow. See you at the beach!

I am so sorry I've been neglecting my blogging responsibilities! Things have been a whirlwind since we got on the road, especially since our first 2 travel days have been long ones. So the last time I checked in was in Ogdensburg, NY. It is a lovely, sleepy little town across the river from Canada, with lots of snow, plenty of ice, and a 10pm curfew. Our show was in a high school without fly space and we got our first taste of local crew. Everyone was incredibly helpful and the show went off without a hitch...well, minus the minor technical mishaps. I love exiting in the dark on an unknown stage. With the smaller space, we could only use about half of our drops, so some of the scenes were played in front of an all-too 70s mustard yellow curtain, but hey, we got a standing O!

The next morning we got up to drive to Elyria, OH for our second venue at a college in town. It was a great space, and perhaps most interestingly enough, the pit was a triangle! So the house was kind of in this faux-thrust shape around the opening for the pit. It was a fun show, the crowd was a little polite and a few new costume/set mishaps happened, but we got another standing ovation from all who could stand!

I'm discovering that a different element to touring is that time between scenes always changes because dressing rooms are all different distances from the stage. So in Ogdensburg the dressing room opened up to the backstage area. In Elyria we had to go down the hall, down a flight of stairs, and down another hall to get to the dressing room. At least we've got monitors in the dressing rooms so we'll be sure to know what's going on on stage. In Ogdensburg we were only able to hear vocals and keyboard 2 in the monitors. Today we heard the whole melody, which was nice because I can only take so much synth strings and harp I can take.

Tomorrow we head to Johnstown, PA, near Seton Hill! I don't know if any of y'all are coming out, but let me know if you do, I'd love to come out and see you afterwards. The next 2 travel days are not bad, just a few hours each. I'll attach some pictures from Ogdensburg, NY!