Rude Mechs in Minneapolis/St. Paul
Internet access has been as scarce as clean black and green striped socks, but a quick update to say that we arrived in the Twin Cities and are brassing off the powers that be in the way we know best.
More later…
Milwaukee: Pedal Pushers’ Parade
Milwaukee was next on our list. In welcome news, we only had one gig scheduled for that day, a parade and BBQ in support of a group called the Pedal Pushers, which works to promote visibility and safety for women and transfolk in the local bicycling community. The drive was long, as usual, but felt leisurely because we didn’t have to be anywhere until 6pm! We loved Milwaukee — the cheap beer, the friendly bike ladies, the little co-op right down the street from our housing, the whiskey-soaked singalong in the dive bar across the street from the co-op. I also personally loved the beautiful rolling hills and farm-dotted scenery of Wisconsin, which most definitely won the “best for thoughtful gazing while listening to iPod” prize. We didn’t love the drunk neighbors who insisted on jumping (literally, jumping) on our bus in the middle of the night, thus waking/confusing/frightening/infuriating the sleeping bandies inside, but weathered even them with good humor and escaped with minimal bruises and funny stories for the next morning. Some of us slept outside again and marveled at how enjoyable it continued to be. Add to that our lunchtime stop in Kenosha, where we had free pizza courtesy of some band parents, some more beer, and a quick dip in a nearby lake, and many of us had begun to feel that we could seriously get used to this way of life.
Chicago, IL: Reenact ‘68 & The Co-Prosperity Sphere
Chicago called us to her, and after a long day on the road, we finally arrived. This marked the first time in a big city since we’d left New York, and some of us (myself included) cheered. This also marked the first time the bus had to park significantly far from both of our gigs, so we packed a day bag and headed on over to an anti-war gig called Re-enact ‘68 in Grant Park, which focused on — you guessed it — reliving the 1968 protests of the Democratic National Convention. A peppy little march and a short set in the park were followed by a per diem dinner (our first since leaving town the previous Friday!) and a couple hours to wander around the city. Some of us split off to stay with friends and come back in the morning, permission slip and phone numbers in hand, and some of us stuck around for the evening’s event — another anti-RNC party, this time with our friends Black Bear Combo at an art collective space called the Co-Prosperity Sphere where we were advised to be extremely careful. We played and slept and ate breakfast and had our morning meeting without damaging any artwork, a feat of which I was incredibly proud, and then peaced out of Illinois for Wisconsin.
Indianapolis, IN: Fringe Fest & Show @ Piradical House
Next we headed to Indianapolis for the Indy Fringe Festival and a show at the local anarchopunk booking collective called Piradical House.
RMO at Piradical House, originally uploaded by jTuba.
That night found us sprawled out at a nearby campsite, because of last-minute housing complications, and as stressful as the evening was for the day’s co-captains, I have to say that I was in full support of this change. I much prefer sleeping outside under the stars than a hard dirty floor in a big crazy punk house. (Not that I don’t love big crazy punk houses.) Sparkling with fresh Indiana dew, we woke up the next morning mostly happy and refreshed, and climbed back on the bus once more.
Yellow Springs, OH – Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute
The prospect of three gigs the following day dragged us out of our beds and back onto the road, where we first stopped to parade through Yellow Springs, Ohio. We were there to support the local lefty learning community and the Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute movement seeking to revive Antioch College, a historic hub of social justice activism in higher education. After a brief post-marching break, where we fueled up on more coffee, chatted up these lovely folks, ate a much-appreciated gratis lunch (who knew there was delicious Indian food in Ohio?), learned to hula-hoop, and spooned on the lawn, we waved goodbye to the cheering academes and got back on the bus.
Columbus, OH: Back to School March & Show at Skylab
The band piled into town just in time to make a march planned to build on the August 15th Anti-Violence Back to School rally, followed by an ice cream social organized by an inner-city school that had just graduated its first class. Free fluorescent green backpacks were distributed to the childrens, and much ice cream was consumed by the band. While guarding our post-lunch picnic table, I made friends with a very talkative 6-year-old named Taylor who later commenced some impressive headspins, to the delight of all. And then we did laundry, and were joined by three latecomers from New York (two more trombones and a tuba), and there was more rejoicing. Later in the evening found us playing for a super-thankful crowd at Columbus’ Skylab space, as a benefit for the local Books Through Bars program. And then we crashed, among several floors and many cats and even an elevator. There are cats everywhere we go. People have a lot of cats, we have noticed. This is always an adventure to those in our ranks with feline allergies.
Cleveland Food Not Bombs & SDS
After Pittsburgh, where some of us tried to sleep on the roof but were thwarted by impending rain, we headed out to Cleveland. Let me tell you folks, Cleveland is high on the list of places competing for our “favorite city” title. They met our bus with little white washcloths — wet, cold, minty, rolled up and on silver trays — for face-dabbing and general refreshment. We stared at each other in amazement, skin tingling, souls rejoicing, then proceeded to lead a small but spirited crowd in a rally defending the local Food Not Bombs chapter, which had come under pressure lately from the city. We chased around some giant puppets, taught some local activists how to use our megaphone, and a good time was had by all. Then it was on to a multi-organizational anti-RNC festival in Lincoln Park, where everyone’s favorite snare drum section debuted some hot new choreography to the surprise of the rest of the band, the crowd responded thrillingly well to our reinstated enthusiastic stage presence, our heroic bus driver Joey Bananafoot (not his real name) jumped into a tutu and a letter “R” tank top to replace a sitting-out dancer so Team Awesome could perform their brand-new anagram routine, and unicorn rides were given to all those interested. I’m not kidding, people. The unicorn was also our host. This is why we love Cleveland. By the end of the fourth day of tour, we’d fixed some initial troubles with the bus, finalized our neglected “who gets a bed when” rotation, figured out a better buddy system, realized shows are so much more fun when we’re as excited as we want our audience to be, and continued to nail down ways we can take better care of ourselves. And then we were on the road to…
Pittsburgh, PA: Benefit for Fed Up
After a mildly worrisome bus ride (who knew we’d just have to change the fuel filter? WE KNOW NOW!) we arrived in Pittsburgh, which is a very nice place with a whole lot of bridges. We jumped out of the bus at Allegheny Commons or West Park and were greeted with plate upon plate of food. We played a few songs with our new activist brass friends in the Breakaway Marching Band, one of whom was an RMO member when we played in the 2004 NYC protests. Then we scurried over to the Belvedere where there was beer and pinball and, much more importantly, a benefit show. The group we played for, FedUp!, does work advocating for and supporting people stuck in Pennsylvania and Virginia prisons. Currently, there are prisoners in need of dialysis who aren’t getting it; FedUp! is working on that.
The blog’s been last on our long list of priorities (right after “learning to feed ourselves” and “making the bus move” but we’re going to make sure it’s updated daily from here on out. A question to ponder while awaiting tomorrow’s blog post… what’s high/hi in the middle and round at both ends? And while we’re pondering, when’s the last time you wrote a letter to someone in prison?
Breakaway Marching Band playing in the park
