Sat, Sep 13, '03
1:21 am TALES FROM THE NAVIGATOR (from the sirenswildride journal, plus some added bonuses)

it's my official new sirens name,..i like it! I'm in Oskosh, WI, sitting here in the business suite of a hotel we've been generously put up in for the night. BIG BIG thank you to the new moon cafe' here in Oshkosh,..we had a great time tonight,..i would have to say the best experience so far (and that's saying alot since each night had it's moment(s)! I've had a great time and had some great coffee in the last 4 days!
it's 2:30 AM, and as always, for those who know me, i'm a vampire,..
This is my first time in the midwest! so far it's not quite what i expected, it's actually better,..
Since i'm not doing any actual driving, i'm athena's navigator, or maybe overbearing backseat driver, guess it depends on the vantage point,.lol
i also get to check out the scenery,..
we've had a few adventures,.the golden goddess of the leaden foot, aka Emily Zuzik, is generally where we need to be about a 1/2 hour before us,..so during the drive Athena and I just chat and giggle, so much so that the first day of the tour on our way to pittsburg, we missed an exit to find ourselves in maryland! OOPS!
luckily i was watching the signs periodically between giggles and noticed the "welcome to maryland sign",..fortunately we were only about 45 minutes out of our way and we were able to get back on track fairly easily,.I call it "taking the scenic route",..we've taken a few scenic routes,.today on our way to oskhkosh while trying to find some tea for athena we wound up at a dead end street (after missing the exit to the expressway) and found a place called the dead end saloon,..we thought we were lucky finding a place where maybe we could get some tea,..they only had beer but it was a fun place for the 3 minutes we hung out there watching the rain pour heavily on the road,..
i dont' like big trucks,..just thought i'd mention that,.they're scary and some honk at us for no reason,..why do they do that? eh?

I have definately met some great people so far only 4 days in!
I finally met an online acquaintance, Sandy Andina, who has lovingly invited us into her home for our stay in chicago and has given us the star treatment! that's always fun! And I was really impressed with her style! she's a folky with some really cool tunes,..she did a warren zevon tune during her set at uncommon ground last night,..it was very cool! i totally wasn't expecting that!
Ellen rosner was also great,.I've heard her name in different circles, like indiegrrl and gogirls but i'm so happy that we've finally met! she is an amazing talent and a great person to boot,..
believe me folks, those qualities together are hard to find,..luckily on this tour I'm with 2 grrls who fit that description,.so it's been a great time so far despite some unpleasantness here and there due to lack of sleep or strange enviroments,..

this is the first tour I've done without Rich. I wasn't quite sure what to expect and just decided before hand to not dwell on what COULD BE but live in the moment,..so far no complaints from me, it's cool really,.I've gotten to know athena pretty well and we've had some down and deep conversations on all sorts of topics,..I'm also constantly enamored by her writing,..each night she pulls out a song from the crypt that i haven't heard before, as does emily,..i'ts definately inspiring! i have my favorite tunes and they keep running through my head,..

i also met a great guy in cleveland named taliq,..we had a really great conversation after we did the gig there and he blew me away with his rhymes! (for those of you who aren't sure what that means, he's a spoken word artist/rapper) real inspiring message,.i really enjoyed that!

it's amazing to me how many people you meet on the road,..how many people inspire me from a short meeting and the memories which linger, ...how many people there are from totally different backgrounds but yet somehow we all find a common ground,..it gets me all thoughtful really,..we're all really just one collective soul in a way,..each person you meet, good or bad, changes your way of thinking, inspires you to look into/beyond yourself,... ponder,..it makes me wonder why it is people can't get along,..maybe i'll save this philosophical question for the next log in,..as always, i go on and on,..
so,..thanks to all the people I've met aloing the way who have been kind and supportive,.thanks for the notes on napkins or the smile during a song, free latte's and conversation,..thaks to nathan in chicago for saving me from myself and surprising me with a jaegermeister! (what a nice guy he was!) Thanks to the folks at the quiet storm in pittsburg, the barking spider in cleveland, uncommon ground in chicago and the new moon cafe' here in oshkosh!
I'm looking forward to meeting new people and hearing more great music!

Mon, Sep 15, '03
10:00 am MORE TALES FROM THE NAVIGATOR

so lessee,.what's new today?
well it's monday,..we'll be on our way to st louis in a few hours,..
but i still have oshkosh on the brain,..lol what a nice town and such nice people!
so i guess i should fill you in!

ok,.when we woke refreshed and bushytailed on sat, emily and i took a walk through the town,..Athena needed to get some parts for her car so she went to the local junkyard and got everyhting she needs AND installed for $20,..less than what it costs to live in NYC for a day!

so we put some CDs on consignment,..got some joe at the cafe, got some free back massages at the wellness center as well as some yummy hommus,.then we went on a quest for the veggie stand,..apparantly the best in the oshkosh area,..but here's the thing,..the lady that looks out for the stand wasnt' there,..it was raining, but all the produce was still there,..
perplexed, i went to the quickie mart next door and asked if someone was coming back,..
apparantly she wasn't but leaving all your wares on the street is oshkosh standard so we were told to pick out what we wanted and pay for it there,..
so we did,..
we then found out where to get "curds" basically it's young cheese,..i've been told by my wisconsin friends i need to do that,..so i did,.

tastes like cheese, basically,..lol i love the accent here! the wisconsin accent is so cool,..i've been practicing so maybe when i get back i'll demonstrate my skill,..

so that's sat,..we drove back to sandy's place in chicago,..drank some wine, chatted and then hit the hay,..

sun: ate some yummy veggies,..emily athena and I were all on our own path,..emily went antiquing, athena slept and took a jog, i took a nice long walk,..didn't know we were so close to the lake,..lake michigan i think,..
it's huge!
so i spent the day getting all thoughtful watching the water roll in and lap on the rocks,.
looking at the chicago "skyline" (im a stuck up new yorker) i do have to say chicago is a beautiful city, its clean and it's pretty diverse,..and i love the juxtoposition of the skyline on vast lake,..and it really is windy!
it does make me miss NYC though,..as much as i bitch and moan about it,..there's no other city i can call home,..
so we had a gig in lansing IL as well,..nothing much to say about it,..but when we got home we had some wine and ate some yummy dinner,..and had more wine,..
it was that kind of night,..really it's a good thing it was a cafe', had they had jaeger i doubt i would remember much,..

Tue, Sep 16, '03
2:13 pm so i'm in St. Louis now,..
what a view coming into the city!
that arch is all lit up in the night it's beautiful!
we wound up doing an open mic at a place called the venice cafe,..
very cool venue, stained glass and mosaics all over and neato paintings and pictures,..
the people we met last night were awesome too!
athena and emily and i have had some bonding time,..i just wiped some bleach lovingly from athena's neck,..lol
she;s coloring her hair,..emily's out with our hostess for the stay here in st louis, celia,..
she;s awesome too,..
we're having a good time!
yesterday was a little hectic, i drove along with emily this time around and we wound up getting a flat right before we got off the exit towards st louis,..luckily a chicago policeman saw us and helped us out,..so offo we went to get some new tires and wound up in chicago's little mexico section,..ate some tacos and to st louis we went,..

so the week marker has passed, haven't been away from NYC THIS LONG IN A WHILE,..oops,..
caps lock,..
i'm too lazy to fix the little problem,..we've been very lucky to have been able to stay with such wonderful people,..sandy and her family treated us like family and we felt so happy there,.. emily and i got to do a llittle antiquing,..i found a boiled wool orange winter jacket for 10 bucks,..big buttons and everything,..it's a little big but once the sweaters find they're way underneath it;ll be perfect,..

so we're all going to a BBQ in a few hours at celia's friend's house,..then off to the gig at Off BROADWAY,.
it sounds like it's gonna be a good time tonight!

Thu, Sep 18, '03
12:01 am my oh my!
i felt some love in st louis!

we never made it to the BBQ i mentioned but celia made us a homecooked meal with a lot of love and we went to the show together!
first off, i have to give a shout out to my new friends in st louis!
especially to my new friend orion,..
have you ever met someone and just knew you would be great friends?
well,.that was the deal last night,..we had a great time and talked and laughed,
unfortunately i don't remember the names of everyone,.whaa,..(too much jaeger :) ) also want to give a shout out to my new friend, (celia's bass player and fellow sound aficiando) jon,.who was awesome,.we had a nice chat too,..he's a great bass player to boot!
the show was awesome! athena and emily both rocked out and from the responses we got i would say we did a great job collectively!
definately going back to st louis!
I also want to thank Woman in rock's founder jeff harlin for putting together an awesome show!

after the show we all went to celia's drummer's house,..her name is Jill,..we met rachel and rachel and jen,..very very cool girls!
so celia and athena sang songs from neil diamond and jesus christ superstar,..i dont' know any of the words for any of those tunes, but i was having a great time listening,..lol we all had too much wine but not TOO much,..just enough for singing and dancing like little girls,..

today we all woke up groggy and went on our way to cinncinnati,..newport KY technically speaking,..a 6 hour drive,..ick
the club was awesome and once again i met some really great folks,..
deb from WAIF came by to check out the show, along with Sue and our hostess maureen, who has lent us her couches for the evening,..her place is absolutely beautiful!
i need to rethink the color schemes in my apartment now,..
lol

i'm so tired that i'm sure i'm forgetting all sorts of cool details
stuff,..little things,..funny stuff,..all the silly faces and silly things we've called each other,..
lol
dont' know if i've mentioned this but we all have names now,..
i'm the navigator cuz i'm in charge of giving directions,..
emily's name is the golden goddess of the leadfoot, cuz when i was driving with athena she would always arrive at least an hour before us,..
athena's new name is raggedy ann (i think, i'll have to check it) cuz now she's got magenta colored hair,.. (magenta is a cross between hot pink and red)

and there it is,..i'm tired,..i think i remembered all the important stuff,..but maybe when i'm awake i'll come back and add in the stuff i missed,..it's been truly a wild ride! we're having a great time!

next up,..columbus ohio!