The second week at St. Louis, Paolo tells us that his "Bestest Cousin's Girlfriend's was also on tour. Kristi
was doing someting like 80 shows in 80 days. She had a mad tour schedual.
So Paolo decides to "Pop Down" to Ashville (North Carolina) to surprise
her! After all, it's only a 10 hour drive! A moment of silence among the group.
Mab says "ok!" Madcat had business up in Chicago so he couldn't
go. We all piled into Mab's Geo Tracker, and hit the road.
We were sad that it was raining as we past the St. Louis arch as we didn't
have any pictures of it yet..*sigh* oh well, perhaps on the trip home.
The
road trip was long. And I would like to take this moment to let people
know that road trips are an amazing time. It is not so much the
destination, but the getting there. The things you see, the
conversations. I suppose it is because people rarely just sit and talk.
And when your trapped in a car for 10+ hours with a Mad Juggler, there
is not much more to do but talk.
At
one point in time, Mab was driving through a town and suddenly slammed
on the breaks....Skreeching to a halt. There, before us, in unabashed
splendor, was the most beautiful Pink Elephant ever!! We all quickly
grabbed our cameras and piled out of the car. Many pictures were taken.
It is not every day ya see a pink elephant! We just hope the owners of
the building the elephant was in front of didn't mind. Then, as quickly
as it had begun, it was over. Like a crack squad of trained
professionals, we all piled back into the car and were quickly
away...............like Ninjas.
We
arrived in Ashville and met up with some friends, Onca and Draven. They
have a Studio that they teach dance and multicultural arts (click their
picture to see their website). Also, they just had a baby. I believe
the child was three months old when we met him. He had more hair than I
did! And it stood up from his head like a 1950's rock-a-billy
pompadore! He was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Everyone says
babies are cute and stuff. I mostly think they look like hairless
monkies. But this child....Onca and Draven are beautiful people, so I
guess it is not surprising considering the genetics of it all.
Our numbers were now,
Paolo, Mab, Onca, Draven, Kaelis, and of course me. We go for sushi,
then head out to the bookstore/coffee house where Kristi was going to
be playing.
There
didn't seem to be much of a crowd when we arrived, it looked like she
had just started. She was singing and playing piano when she noticed
Paolo! Her entire face lit up like Times Square! The rest of the show
was wonderful! In our group, only Paolo had heard her sing before. The
rest of us where impressed. Onca bought one of her cds. I introduced
myself and was a great hit. In fact, she even let me sit on her paino
while she sang me a song. I'm not sure, but I think it might have been
a love song. I mean, who can resist a wooden monkey? I can't help it,
women love me. It is the cross I have to bear. We went out for drinks
and desserts after the show.
The rest of the stay in Ashville was wonderful. We found a weaving shop for Mab, visited Onca and Draven's Studio,
visited other friends. My thoughts on Ashville: Wonderful place.
Beautiful landscape, friendly people, unique shops, good feeling,
affordable. I would live there.
But our time was all
to short there. We, reluctantly, left. On the drive home, Paolo gets a
phone call from Madcat. His car died in Chicago! Paolo looks at Mab,
Mab looks at Paolo. They both shrug and say "ok" But it is decided that
they need to stop off in St. Louis first to get Paolo's truck as it has
more room for Madcat's stuff. As we got closer to St. Louis, the clouds
got thicker. Just between you and me, I think there is a perpetual
rainstorm over St. Louis. Once again, the arch is shrouded by
rainclouds.
We
arrived at Paolo's truck, and he could not find his keys. We called
Onca and Draven (the folks we stayed with in Ashville) and they looked
around. Yup. There they were. Right on top of the table. Onca dropped
them in a fed-ex envelope and overnighted them back. However, there was
still the matter of Madcat. Paolo looked at Mab, Mab looked at Paolo.
"ok." she said, and they were off back to Chicago in Mab's Geo Tracker.
15 hours later, we are back in St. Louis, getting ready for the last
weekend of work.
I've already gone on
enough about st. louis, the last weekend was preaty much the same as
the others, except less rain. Better business, a few more parties, long
goodbyes, and we were packed up.
Paolo was going on to
Vermont faire, Madcat was going back to Chicago, and Mab was heading
home, by way of Cincinatti for a quick visit with a friend. Mab and
Paolo were planning on meeting up at another faire in 3 weeks.