Denver, Colorado

this weekend, we find ourselves in the mile high city. I have been excited to come here not only because it’s a real town, but because I was born here. The mountains are crazy beautiful, and I wish we were closer to them...but of course...we’ve been put up in the crappiest descent hotel they could have found for us. There’s nothing to do near us, but there is a 24 hour shuttle from said crappy hotel to downtown denver...which we of course used.

we’ve just come off the toughest week of the tour so far and really needed to unwind last night. Please allow me to recap...

Tuesday we found ourselves performing in kansas city, Missouri (spent last weekend there, and it was a blast). The theater we performed in was a nightmare to get into. There was a ghetto ramp/plank that was set up for loading and unloading the truck (not ideal for our deathtrap of a set). The crew looked cracked out on crystal meth...honestly I know what meth heads look and act like, and they were it. (But they were nice meth heads). However, it turns out that THE STROKES played that venue right before we did...so I guess that ups our coolness level??...no?...ok.

That night, we drove back to oklahoma (we’d just come from there a day ago). It was a rainy drive, and Steve and I were in the truck. We thought we should stick to the main interstates because of the weather, but that ended up being a 14 ½ hour day (illegal), and the worst drive ever...we did try to make the best of it by singing along to everything I have on my ipod...we both still wanted to kill ourselves though. :)

scot and meagan were kind enough to have pizza and pepsi waiting for me for when we finally did get in. It was just what I needed, and they knew it, and that’s why I love them. :)

Wednesday, we preformed at ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY. Ironically one of the most godless places in america (it’s a huge religious school founded by and used for televangelism.) It has terribly strict and sexist rules that the students have to follow. We performed in the basketball court (inappropriate for our show). The tech crew (sans a cute sophomore named tyler) was mean, didn’t listen, and infact, on more than one occasion, needed to be aggressively ordered to do simple tasks. Ridiculous.

Thursday we had another rough load in having to navigate 2 steep ramps, and because of an “oversight” in the production office, we didn’t have a crew...at all. The 8 of us killed ourselves to unload everything in record time, so that then we could assemble the deathtrap of a set...by...ourselves. Then we rushed, muscles aching, backs tightening up, to get into makeup and costume and do the show...and we started on time. Production “felt bad” for their foul up and offered to buy us dinner...anything we wanted (as long as it was under $20). We decided we were going to save dinner for a town that didn’t suck...so we took a raincheck and ate shit food once again in the middle of nebraska and passed out tired and sore.

Friday the 13th, as you can imagine, was creepy. Shortly after midnight I got an upsetting phone call, and I knew the rest of the day wouldn’t fare much better. (As one of my castmates said, always trust a Pisces when it comes to premonitions). During the load in to the theater, one of the boxes (4 feet tall, 3 feet wide, heavy as hell, and full of delicate lighting equipment) took it upon itself to heave itself off of the truck at full speed. Scot futiley tried to stop the horror- risking personal injury and all, but the fates were against us all and the box fell with a sickening crash, falling 5 feet at full speed off the truck and landing on the cement alleyway with nothing to buffer it. Somehow nothing broke...so the show did go on as planned. The theater was beautiful, but way too small for what we do. For the umpteenth time, I found myself in full view of the audience for all of my quick changes, as well as giving the local crew a free show...yuck. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to a yummy italian lunch, complete with wine, piled in the van and drove to kearney, nebraska (we were headed to denver, but had to stop at the half way point). That evening, some of us went out to dinner. All of our chi’s were off, and this equated to minor irritations and arguments that, I guess, if they were going to happen, happened in the best way possible. Although, if you will allow me a tangent, I’d like to point out that when these types of tifts arise, the small circle I find myself traveling in (within the larger group), handle it quite well. I was more than happy to see the clock hit 12:01 am, and patted myself on the back for having survived Friday the 13th.

Saturday, was not a day off, but at least we didn’t have to do a show. It was a drive day, and so I curled up in the back seat and watched the landscape fly by. That night, here in denver, we all got organized and went out to dinner on chamber theatre’s tab. I got drunk and stuffed (as we all did) and befriended a cowboy in the rain. His name is brad, and his pup’s name is kip, and horse, ted. Fucking perfect if you ask me. Hopefully I can get down to the country western bar he mentioned to get some real denver culture, and watch people attempt the mechanical bull...all I can think about is urban cowboy. :)