Touring is like childbirth

For those of you not familiar with my former lifestyle, I married a man-who at 19-had a band that was signed and touring.

He met me at the ripe old age of 22, threw me over his shoulder and we kept going.

For the first 5 or so years of our marriage, we criss-crossed the U.S., while he bounced around the stage playing bass guitar and singing, I watched from the side-so proud of my husband.

Touring with his band quickly morphed into driving our friend’s tour buses during our downtime, which then morphed into a career for the both of us.
We were able to spend every waking minute with each other and make decent money-only working 4 months out of the year.

And, we got to stay in really cool hotels-for free.

I mean, really cool hotels-like ones with complimentary white robes and house shoes, Starbucks in the lobby and manager’s receptions.

And hotels where Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant used to stay.

We saw more of the U.S. than I ever thought possible in one lifetime, let alone a couple of years.

Often, in just a few days’ time, we would go from laid back towns with southern sandy beaches…

…to fall weather and the craziness of New York.

We were invited to a real Louisiana crab boil, complete with Zydeco music.

And we ate at historic restaurants with tortillas the size of a spare tire. (Which subsequently, gives you a spare tire.)

We’ve been fortunate enough to experience things in a weekend-all paid for-that most people save up years to do.

And I got to do this all with my best friend at my side.

However, for all of the perks, a touring lifestyle can be unpredictable.

Would the bus break down today, and if so, how much money will we loose?
Can we make it through this traffic/construction/snowstorm and get to the show on time?
Will the other bands on tour like us?
Will we get to eat today, and if so, is it pizza again?
Am I going to get to sleep in a bed tonight/this afternoon?
Will I drive Biceps crazy singing, “Baby went to Amsterdam, She put a little money into travelin’, now it’s so slow, so slow…” too many times when traffic slows down?
Will we crash and die?
Am I going to encounter any other normal human besides Biceps today? (Probably not.)

But, now that we’re away from touring and into a normal routine of life-getting up at the same time, packing Bicep’s lunches, ironing his “Blues”, being at church every Sunday, cooking dinner every night-I miss the unpredictability of the touring lifestyle.

I miss the sunrises every morning, making breakfast sandwiches on the bus, and having someone else wash my towels and my sheets.

I miss the whirring sound of the bus generator, the early morning coffee time and seeing towns empty out after a huge show.

But, then I think about the slumber party stomach from lack of sleep, blinding snowstorms that scare the crap out of me as I’m driving through New York, and the loneliness of having a flipped schedule from other “day dwellers”.

It’s so easy to forget all the bad stuff, the painful stuff-only bringing to mind all the good stuff. I think touring is a bit like childbirth for me.

The Hollywood Elite from the Golden Age

It might be obvious that I love a vintage era. An era with high heels, Grandma’s aprons, canning, making pies from scratch, listening to Getz/Gilberto and movies that were decent enough you could watch with the whole family. An era where men were men and ladies were ladies.

All of that said, dear readers, you would then surmise that the Golden Age of Hollywood would be classified as one of my favorites. The age where ladies wore gloves, men wore ties and when everyone could sing and dance.

Therefore, I was more than excited to once again be in Los Angeles for several days and stay at The Sportsmen’s Lodge on this last tour. (I am not getting kick-backs from this hotel…I wish I did, however…) This lodge used to sit outside of L.A., but urban sprawl has taken over and it’s now within city limits.

 

The Sportsmen’s Lodge is overtly famous for housing the Hollywood Elite-the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, and Donna Reed-were said to leave the hustle and bustle of Hollywood to hole up here.

 

According to hotel staff, Carey Grant dipped in this very pool on several occasions. I don’t care if it’s a true story or not…that is what happened.

 

The lobby and lounge were what I like to call, “swanked-out”. Meaning, really swanky.

 

In bygone times, acres of forest surrounded the hotel-allowing seclusion for the stars from their adoring fans. Now, a Starbucks is right across the street, along with a large grocery store.
I ain’t complainin’ about the Starbucks, let me tell you.

I would have loved to see the hotel in its hey-day. I know just what dress I would have worn if I was sharing a lobby with Marilyn or Bing. And, I have matching gloves that never get any action and would go perfectly with my dress.
Let me be honest-the rooms were nothing to speak of-decent, but not a Ritz Carlton by any means.
But, if you ever want to connect with “what was” and you happen to be in the City of Angels, I recommend stopping off at the Sportsmen’s Lodge.
Say “hi” to Carey’s spirit for me.

Touring Changes!

In case you haven’t heard…you haven’t heard from me. In awhile. Like 8 months.
I was an idiot and I’ll tell you why. I went El Cheapo and built my site in Iweb in the spring of 2010. Ah…those were the good months.

Around January 2011, all heck broke loose. My website-my carefully planned website-became unusable, unretrievable and unpostable. I am not sure if all of those are legitimate adjectives, but I plead the stressed-out case before you.

I continued on with life, saving up my money to hire a professional to build the template. And while I waited, life did not stop. Tours were to be tended to, family was to be visited-the life as I knew it, kept moving forward.

There are road side attractions that must be discussed. Like this giant blue whale on Route 66.

There were near-misses here in Tulsa as tornadoes touched down in Joplin, nearly destroying the city.

There were camels to be seen, new foods to eat, cities to explore…

…and of course my weird husband doing weird things in his hotel room. Like standing in front of a cow picture, bedecked in a zebra print bathrobe, holding a bottle of wine, posing and taking a picture of himself with his phone. Yep. Weird.

I’ll share with you my new adventures, like: places to eat, weird things that have been witnessed, beauty captured by my camera and stories that need to be told.
The world is a large place and I plan to tour it all. Welcome back.