Back to Milwaukee!

Coming back to Milwaukee to perform at UWM thanks to Anti-Authoritarians Anonymous.

Sat Nov 13th, Milwaukee, WI
UW-Milwaukee, Union, Rm 280, 8PM

We're going to try and book a few shows between here and there. We've covered this ground a couple times, so it's kind of difficult finding somewhere new to play. Who knows anyone in Indiana?

Economic Report: The West

Hey! We're home!

This tour went pretty damn well. We ordered new shirts to start things off, then we went up to Toronto for the People's Summit, which was well worth going to, and performing there almost paid back our travel costs. Then we drove to Wisconsin, met up with Peter, got in his van, the USS Gerald Holiday, and hit the road for weeks, and THEN we drove to Buffalo to play the Infringement Festival. Then we came home and performed one last show as a benefit for the folks who got arrested up in Toronto at the G20. It was a pretty crazy month. We didn't make a lot of money, but all in all, it was well worth it.

Someday soon we'll get a car that runs on veggie oil and/or happy thoughts and then we'll worry about tour expenses no more!

What's up with these numbers?

We did things a little differently because we were on tour with Peter. We didn't pay for food, and we split the earnings with him (logged as a "misc travel expense"). We played a lot more concerts, which led to more door charging than hat passing, but the hat passing we did do worked pretty damn well. Also, the door charge was very voluntary most places.

See the breakdown below:

What about the Future?

Now that we're back home in Columbus, it's time for some serious local focus. Our first priority is getting the intentional community strongly on it's feet. We're in the process of buying a HUGE building that needs a bundle of repairs. At any rate, Kate and I gotta get some income going on so as to be able to contribute our share to the community. It'll probably be at least 6 months before we tour again (unless some sweet opportunities fall into our laps).

Our second priority is getting some new work together. Ulysses' Crewmen has served us well, I still strongly believe it's the best piece of theatre I've produced, but we've grown over the course of producing it, and have new ideas and new things to say that this piece cannot. But! Have no fear the next touring script is in the works. It's three short acts, for three actors playing five or more roles, and may involve some crazy shadow-puppet type visuals. It kind of grew out of the idea of producing an updated re-write of Heiner Mueller's Mauser, but has gone some very different places.

At this moment it's called "The First Image of the New is Terror..." and it's in many ways the opposite of Ulysses' Crewmen. UC seems to be about our powerlessness in the face of global empire. Terror will be about how we can be powerful, what that takes. UC is very ambiguous and open, leaves audiences with lots of questions. Terror will present a specific and direct statement (which we will then discuss and debate openly with the audience). UC presented a few pointed moments for audience interaction, Terror will involve the audience throughout and will sometimes dissolve into direct dialog with or among the audience. UC is really intense and violent, and... well, I guess that's one thing they'll have in common.

Our third priority is finding a place for radical theatre in Columbus. We definitely don't want to repeat mistakes we made in Milwaukee. Right now this means producing variety shows like the Solidarity Showcase to get a sense of what and who is interested in theatre among the radical community, and maybe even who's interested in radicalism among the theatre community. After that, who knows what'll happen. I've got some ideas, but which one occurs will depend entirely on who else wants to get involved. Who knows, we might end up just doing children's plays for the neighborhood residents around the big fucking building mentioned above. That'd be pretty fucking sweet if you ask me.

Show 104: G20 Fundraiser / homecoming, Columbus, OH

TURNOUT: 40

MONEYS: $105 all going to Toronto G20 Arrestees. You should donate more!

INJURIES: unscathed!

STORIES: This was a great homecoming show. A nice big turnout, fucking awesome music from Realicide and Ryan Jewel, the awarehouse is an amazing space, it really makes me feel good to be home.

It was also a pretty decent fundraiser. I wish we'd earned a bit more, but times are tight, i guess. We didn't raise as much as we did with the Solidarity Showcase, but I think we did a much better job with the educating and informing the audience part. We wrote some letters and presented a lot more info than last time.

We're learning and will get better over time. I'm looking forward to our next swing at the Solidarity Showcase, coming up this October for the RNC 8.

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 101-103: Buffalo Infringement Festival

The first theatre festival we performed where we didn't lose hundreds of dollars!!

After 3 weeks of touring to the west coast and back we dropped Peter off in Milwaukee (or he dropped us off at our car, actually) and headed to Buffalo for three days of DIY theatre goodness.

First, we stopped at my mom's house where I made the grave error of jumping in a nearby lake, invoking a terrible allergic reaction, which incapacitated me for most of the 10 hour drive to Buffalo, and made our first performance that evening a little more strange than usual. Performing actually very much improved my condition, though. Apparently rolling around in a hot little room and screaming with your head in a bag and a gag in your mouth cures congestion!

Second, we played three shows, and saw a bunch of others. The others were a pretty mixed bag, some well intentioned but failed efforts, the most proficient puppetry I've seen, and some Brecht done really Brechtian (which turned out quite disatisfying, actually).

Third, we got to hang out in Buffalo and discover more of the wonders this city has to offer. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the rust belt is where the fucking rev will start. Or at least the total social collapse part of it.

Blow by blow, show by show:

I. Friday July 30th, Rust Belt Books

TURNOUT: 10

MONEYS: $30.50

INJURIES: Rust Belt's french press didn't make it. Sorry.

STORIES: We got to Buffalo in time to hang up a few flyers, watch a beautiful puppet show, and beg passersby to come watch our show. A few did, and it was good.

The performance was a little hectic and distracted, there were windchimes on the door, and we had a fairly tight performance time schedule, also, Kate bumped into a wall with a french press on a table on the other side, the bump was enough to cause it to leap onto the floor and smash itself. Hurns.

In a recurring problem that makes we wish we'd signed up for an hour-and-a-half time slot rather than an hour, we had to get packed up and out of there before we were able to have any kind of discussion with the audience. I'm beginning to think these discussions are a necessity for the kind of theatre we're doing. Otherwise it feels like presenting our honest, complex inability to live under empire or confidently attack empire might be kind of pointlessly bewildering.

II. Saturday July 31st, Sugar City

TURNOUT: 7

MONEYS: $27.71

INJURIES: Unscathed!

STORIES: We rolled into Sugar City as awards were being given out for some kind of social media scavenger hunt, which honestly looked far less fun than a traditional scavenger hunt. Sorry guys, social media is a fucking tragedy. (yes, i realize this is a blog, and i am thus a hypocrite, but I am part of this fucking tragedy.)

Anyway, we performed for a small, but i think, appreciative audience, including some middle aged, middle class, generally middle-oriented folks who voiced discomfort with our performance.

Then we stuck around to watch "You Know This Girl" which we've been curious about since seeing posters for it at the bunk house in Cincinnati. Another DIY theatre tour! Her one woman show about "the depths of shallowness" depressed the hell out of me and pissed Kate off. I suspect Fallon has good intentions, and is clearly committed to her role, but the piece misses the mark. Humiliating clueless women who live for the shallow approval of others is (as comedy) like shooting fish in a barrel or (as social commentary) like treating a rash with poison ivy.

III. Sunday August 1st, Broadway Market Rooftop.

TURNOUT: variable 4-10, including two cops.

MONEYS: $28

INJURIES: temporary staring-into-the-sun eye strain

STORIES: Now we can say we've performed on a roof-top on a cloudless summer day at high noon! I just need to figure out if being able to make that claim is worth the unpleasantness of actually doing the act.

Also, the place was crawling with cops, one of whom we notified of what we were doing before performing, which was fortunate, cuz he later told us his partner's first reaction upon witnessing our play was to reach for his gun.

Also, there was a drum circle and a rap group elsewhere on the roof during our performance. This rooftop happens to be in the middle of an african american neighborhood, and both these African-rooted music genres happened to be performed by white dudes. Assumptions of cultural appropriation aside, they were both pretty loud and I'm sure made it hard to hear us.

In spite of these things, a few people managed to stick around and seemed to get something out of the show.

Then we went to see a story teller, the Conspiracy Tour, and Subversive Theatre's production of "The Mother". I really wish the producers of The Mother had gone to the Conspiracy Tour, cuz maybe then they woulda recognized how dated the play is and how badly Brecht himself would surely want it revised so that it's deconstruction of The Mother's naive assumptions wouldn't be overshadowed by obsolete ideas of mass workers movements and state communism. It's very strange hearing Brecht's celebration of communist leaflets being recited by folks who don't seem to have read any leaflets written in the last 5-10 years.

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 100: Madison, Faux-Op

In place of a pic from Madison, cuz the camera battery ran out, here's some from the No Show in Fargo.
TURNOUT: 10

MONEYS: 75

INJURIES: None

STORIES: Nice show in Madison. Theatre people turned out for this one. I got someone some water while they waited for the show to begin. This, all in all, was quite the solid last show. Fuzzy feeling and all. An aww show. Folks were great, both Pete's and our set went well and then we hit the road for the last time on our way to Milwaukee. Ode to Wisconsin.

Highwayku:

An eighteen ounce pee

in just a sixteen ounce cup

It's all on Gerald.

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 99: Minneapolis, Medusa

TURNOUT: 17

MONEYS: 62

INJURIES: Unscathed!

STORIES: I've always wanted to play this place and now we've done it. Was a little disappointed by the organization but whatever, we heard some music, did the show and then got to hear some more music. There were also a lot of girls in dresses-- that always freaks me out. Got to stay with Brice of Ice Volt which was great and much much much appreciated.

Highwayku from Fargo to MN:

Driving at showtime

Burning stick will make up loss

Wet stick will bring tears

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 98: The Pangea House, Minot, North Dakota

TURNOUT: 12

MONEYS: $50

INJURIES: I fell on my head. Normally, I'm supposed to fall on one knee, then my butt, then my shoulder, but instead, for some reason i can't remember, this time my head went directly to the floor. Hard. Hard enough that i saw stars.

STORIES: Why not Minot? Probably because everyone assumes that a little town in the middle of North Dakota is a dumb place to try and make an infoshop or visit on a tour. Everyone is wrong. Minot rocks.

The show started out with a song circle, everyone taking turns playing songs on keyboards or acoustic guitars, sad songs, funny songs, covers. It had a real friendly community feel. Seriously, it was nice. Then it was time for Peter to play his harsh drooly loud set and for us to perform our messy violent play about powerlessness and futility. Suffice to say we felt uncomfortable and a little out of place.

But, we needn't have worried, cuz people loved the show, and we had a great group discussion about confronting empire and building radical alternatives. We learned a lot from the Minot kids, apparently North Dakota is one of few places in the US that didn't get too badly ruined by the financial collapse. Of course, oil speculators and real estate brokers are now moving in and blowing the economy up into a nice unstable bubble, with the help of the local government. Tearing down low income housing while a bunch of oil workers move into town driving up rents and tearing up the landscape to get at oil trapped in shale. Yes, neoliberalism seems to be targetting North Dakota. I'm hoping the kids we met might be able to convince the people of Minot that this money flowing into the community will even more rapidly flow out to big banks and corporations, that the inevitable bubble-bust is the fault of capital, not the minorities and non-xtians the right will surely blame, and that local politicians are working for the banks, against the people. We'll see.

Also, the Minot folks warned us that Fargo is a tough place to try and play. Their warnings proved justified. There will be no show report from Fargo, because nobody promoted the Fargo show, and thus nobody turned out. All we did was eat shitty over-priced taco salad and fill up with silent hate, then get back in the car and drive to Minneapolis.

Hiwayku:

This drive was very

long and very boring and

we had some soup too.

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 97: Billings, MT, Pat's Place

TURNOUT: 12

MONEYS: $70

INJURIES: Cranial Drill smashed his knuckle bloody during his set, but we got out unscathed, in spite of starting the show with being thrown down blindfolded with hands tied behind my back onto a few cement steps in the doorway. That's right, I'm nimble!

STORIES: Drove straight to Billings from Seattle, 13 hours for a 5:00 start time. Peter and Kate did all the driving, and I actually got some fitful interrupted sleep in the back, but was still exhausted enough to fall asleep while performing. That's right, I'm narcoleptic!

The show was really solid, a smallish but appreciative crowd, good cookout food, harsh badass noise from Cranial Drill, PCRV, and DCLXVI. Couldn't have asked for more after the longest drive of the tour. Got some good sleep and headed on to N. Dakota, the home stretch.

Peter played his weird set, with the bass and chains.

Hiwayku:

Got a bed in back

the sky has been ripped in half

now this fucking train

(fuck that fucking bitch)

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 96: Seattle, Teatro de la Psychomachia

TURNOUT: 12

MONEYS:$61 + $17 merch

INJURIES: My kneecaps, the caps of the knees as the caps of soda bottles, has been spurred.

STORIES: (This was dictated while I was tired and driving, but not too tired to drive, as, I was driving successfully, not that that should be used as the measure of what's alright.)

We played next to a strip club. The line up was showgirls, dream girls, columbia fire building, building of fire, then goth show hosts. Vanessa, who's pictured above, was great. These people do butoh!! They also have an altar, which we didn't take a picture of, because, in the lineup of buildings before showgirls was a large baseball stadium and we had to park blocks away and left the camera in the vehicle. Things were dark and moody in a nice, charged way, folks seemed to be having a good time, occasionally speaking or slapping on the floor during the performance. I felt kind of strange doing the show under stage lights, as i couldn't see anyone around me, which made me feel like i was in some sort of ice dungeon, where sometimes faces would appear on the other side of the ice. Like an igloo, like a transparent igloo. Like a dungeon. Wow! We are sure still driving. Hey, look, a deer.

People seemed to enjoy it though, and that's that. Hooray! 13 hour drive to Billings.

Pete played his quiet set, which he added crackley voice to, which was a crackley change, so to speak.

Highwayku:

Holy shit Michaud!

Empire war war war bad war

Holy shit JOHN MANNO!!

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 95: Olympia, Stump House

TURNOUT: 7

MONEYS: $55 +$5 merch

INJURIES: Unscathed!

STORIES: Stump house has cats! Two matching black cats that'll lick and lick and lick your fingertips! I was terribly exhausted and kind of sucking the mop before the show for some reason. Layed on the couch trying to sleep through high-volume sound checks.

Once the show started I was feeling better, mainly because the local music was awesome. Knot Pine Box might be my favorite music we've played with. After the show, I was feeling great. Maybe I need to start every day with being tied to a chair and pistol whipped.

Peter played the loud set. There's something very visual about these pieces Peter's been playing. Something that makes me want to make music videos for them. Maybe i'll do that.

Highwayku:

Dancing bare not bear

waiting for ships in traffic

makes ben get antsy

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 94: Portland, at 1486 Garfeild

TURNOUT: 21

MONEYS: $50

INJURIES: I felt like there were bugs crawling all over me all day. I kinda still do. What the fuck?

STORIES: Great show! A little bit of everything, good music, real discussion, good times hangin out. Seems like a good mix of people came out for the show, noise folks and anarchists, even some who're into theatre.

I don't have much more to say about the show. It was good and made me happy. I hope next time we come to Portland we won't already be kind of worn out from weird sort of shoddy times in California.

Peter played his weird set and also had a good time.

1/2 Highwayku:

another short drive

with nothing ha-

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 93:Eugene, at The Jazz Station

TURNOUT: 13

MONEYS: $42

INJURIES: I pinched Ben's armpit, visciously. (Ben wrote that)

STORIES: We got to the venue somewhat worn out from spending the earlier part of the day in the mountains, hiking around in the river. Chefkirk played with us which was nice. Pete played his quiet set for a nice audience whom he was familiar with from previous shows in Eugene. I felt somewhat dirty during the show. It took place in a gallery/jazz space that was nice and clean and my pants have been ripping continuously throughout this tour, not to mention the multiple layers of tape holding my shoes together. Oh, yeah, and I knocked a vase over during the show, broke character to say I was sorry.

Highwayku:

bland flatland transforms

mountaintops cut interview

oh gosh they're purdy

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

NATURE DAY! Oregon!

We forgot to bring the camera!

Uncle Dan took us out to hike around a creek and climb a mountain near Eugene. It was a really good time.

Picture us in your minds eye... we're frolicing in a cold mountain stream... we're sitting on the edge of a small waterfall... we're trudging up a thin mountain trail, accompanied by a half-black lab half-rottweiller named "Bubba"... we've reached the top of the mountain, which has some very interesting eroded rock formations... we're standing in our underwear ontop of the rock formations... there's a griffon, vaguely visible in the background... we're knee deep in a pool of water, thinking about swimming, but waaay to cold...

Now...

LOOK AT THAT FUCKING NATURE!!! IMAGINE IT!

NA-FUCKING-TURE!!

Show 92: Sacramento, CA The Hub

TURNOUT: 12

MONEYs: $40

INJURIES: Kate pulled me up by my fingers, which sorta hurt.

STORIES: Best California show of the tour! Tons of kick ass bands! Lots of fun. The performance felt a little lacking, maybe because the venue was hot little room and there was a really loud fan, when combined with the ear-ringing from the loud noise music, made things a bit hard to hear.

Peter was back on the drooly loud set (which, honestly was only drooly the first two times) it was fucking great and LOUD in the small space.

Half a Highwayku (it was a really short drive):

damn five dollar toll

the drive is ov-

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, comment on it or ask us some questions. We'd love to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 91: Oakland CA, The Curch

TURNOUT: Questionable. If you go by the money, 5 people. If you go by the people, 15 or more.

MONEYs: 25

INJURIES: Ah, none, there was carpet.

STORIES: So we went from playing a house called women to playing a church actually filled with women. I've had the experience when gathering information for the Intentional Community of looking at different cities' statistics, like what is the average age of residents or what industries are the most prevelent and seeing the variables change, sometimes drastically, from place to place. And I find myself always biting my lip in anticipation, hoping that when I get to the gender statistics, there will be one city that just blows everything else away, that has the same fluctuations in gender as there are in age and industry statistics. Staring at the screen I think to myself, maybee this city will have like a 70 to 30 percent women to men ratio or 28 to 25 ratio with 47 percent of the population listed as "they do whatever the fuck they want." It's ridiculous that I'm always dissapointed when this doesn't happen.

Anyway, my hopes of having a venue populated by a high ratio of women to men turned out to be dissapointing. Not that there wasn't a high ratio but that this ratio produced something that made me want to consume my own thumb and possibly the remainder of my digits if there were anymore Miss Mary Mack hand slappy games done in conjunction with wearing what amounted to fancy pajamas.

Peter played his weird set. A few people watched him. Bass Haters were excellent.

Highwayku:

This is what we found

busload of slavic grannies

a mailbox and frooot!

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, comment on it or ask us some questions. We'd love to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

bladh;ladkjg

Show 90: L.A. at Women

TURNOUT: 15

MONEYS: $15. merch $9

INJURIES: That spot where Kate slaps my head at that one part, it's starting to kind of break out in acne. Also my hair is getting too long and needs shaving. In other words my personal appearance is suffering some injuries.

STORIES: This place was punk rock. That's about all I want to say here about that.

On a positive note: a couple radicals with some who just moved to LA from Denver came to see the show, and contributed 2/3 of the money earned. Pedestrian Deposit are great musicians and we got to talk theatre with Shannon and this other guy. Xdugef and Shawn McCann were also quite good.

Also, we dried the sweat out of Ulysses' costume on the uncharacteristically well-maintained front lawn.

Peter played his "quiet" set, and sold more merch than us.

Highwayku:

Directions in hand,

Peter drives past the exit

Ben was sooo silly

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 89: L.A. at Echo Curio

TURNOUT: 6 in the beginning about 3 at the end.

SMELL: Fairly fresh. Smelled mildly of lavender.

BENCH PRESS: About two hundred. Not bad for such a scrawny place.

MONEYS: 20

INJURIES: It hurts, it hurts, oh god it hurts in my soul. (This is ben being slightly overdramatic)

STORIES: There were two skirted and pantsed people who walked into the space right before we were about to start which made me smile a bit thinking maybee somehow the press releases I'd sent out to the void had reached them only to see them walk out right after I did the "When you kill 500,000 children in order to impose your will on other contries, then you shouldn't be surprised when somebody responds in kind" bit.

Oh well.

John and Shannon of Pedestrian Deposit came and saw the show which was great and we had a discussion afterwards with them, Grant, and another guy who's on the neighborhood association and who I can't remember his name goddamn it. I feel like I sounded kind of straight-backed and bookish in this discussion which makes me a little nervous about what my brain and mouth want to do with the new information they suck up.

Other things: - The perfomance and general delivery of the show that night was a little shakey, went better the next night.

- You can't pee anywhere on Sunset Blvd but we did anyway.

- Pete played his loud set, the drooly one, which I watched with my eye's open this time.

Highwayku:

Smuggling apricots,

Where's the lush fertile valley

Barry White killed it.

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it becuase we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 88: Phoenix AZ

TURNOUT: 9
MONEYS:
INJURIES: Unscathed!

STORIES: There was some press coverage for this show at the Trunk Space so some theatre folks decided to come out. Which was nice as it turned out to be a great performance, thankfully. This space was the hottest yet. It's amazing how fast the human body can generate sweat. I love it, it makes me feel like a seal just gliding through the performance like water.

Pete played his "weird set" with the bass and the 'I'm in a dream and am about to die by train or flying killer vampire bat' sound. It's the second time he's played it thus far and someone even bought a shirt.

HIWAYKU:

pricey oil change
wasting so much time in heat
back to Circle K! (to be said underneath: "hooray hooray hur")

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, comment on it or ask us a question. We'd love to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 87: Bisbee AZ, Sully's Old Town Cafe

TURNOUT: 9

MONEYS: 71 + 46 in merch

INJURIES: Someone's ears. Cops were called during Pete's booming set. Nothing happened. Brian who owned the place was very excited about wasting the cops time.

STORIES: Bisbee is a small mountain town in Arizona that houses the happiest man ever, one noise dude and a few old men with facial tattoos. This town is great. The noise guy who'd contacted Peter about the show over email months ago just walked into the restaurant we were at and found us. Small towns are extra convenient at times. It was good to hang out with him for a while while eating delicious black bean burgers that held together nicely.

There ended up being a small but nice and enthusiastic audience for the show. Makes me think that next time we should take Brian's suggestion an ddo it for two nights, leaving room for word of mouth to travel. I always like coming here and seeing folks again. Great hospitality and lots of smiles. Bisbee is a place we'll likely come back to in the future.

The house we stayed at also had two goats, ducks, a greenhouse, an apricot tree and much more, not to mention the three kids.

Highwayku:

We drove to Bisbee

extremely uneventful

just a few palm trees. (to be said underneeth: "yuka yuka yuk")

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, comment on it or ask us some questions. We'd love to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

NATURE DAY!!!

HOLY SHIT! Check out this goddamn NATURE!

Here's Peter pointing at a peak we're gonna climb! WOW!

Here we are on top of that peak! In our undies (or not) and VICTORIOUS!

This is where we gave up on following the hidden canyon to the beating heart of Zion. The terrible green rope rock thwarted our efforts.

HOLY FUCK LOOK AT THAT SANDSTONE!

NATURE WITH STEPS BUILT IN!!

We just took a dip in a hot spring! It was FUCKING NATURAL!

Highwayku!:

Lemons for tatas
emersed in hot salt water
cirtus prunes right up

Show 86: Prescott AZ, Catalyst Infoshop

TURNOUT: 15

MONEYS: $56 + $10 merch

INJURY: I will not cease to hit Ben in the head with the gun, on the other hand, he does not cease turning his head the wrong way right into the gun. Also, someone gave Ben a noogie at the end of the show.

STORIES: So, we pulled into catalyst infoshop, dropping Nicole off, and met some very friendly folks. This trait seemed to persit throughout the night. I always get a little nervous performing the show for friendly, welcoming people, don't want to scare them off or anything like that. We performed outside, in the driveway with motion lights, which occasionally turned off at dramatic moments. After the show there was a great discussion about the end of the play getting into morality and the many ways it can be defined. Speaking of morality, there were also a lot of dogs.

Peter played his acoustic set this time due to the outsideness. In the middle of it, dogs began fighting right in front of the table which Peter enjoyed. It was really nice to hear music and the outdoor noises at once, paying attention to the oddities of both.

Highwayku:

Through desert plateaus

we crossed the marble canyon with

mean three dollar gas

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, ask us some questions or comment on it. We'd love to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 85: Salt Lake City

TURNOUT: 36

MONEYS: $72 + $40 fundraiser CDs + $36 merch

INJURIES: Kate can't seem to stop hitting me in the head on this tour.

STORIES: Very adventurous drive. Just outside Salt Lake City there were signs warning of a three hour traffic delay telling us to take "an alternate route" without clear suggestion of exactly what alternate route. So we just got off the interstate and proceeded to get lost in the mountains. Long steep winding roads, epic music on the stereo, walking into a wedding reception at some hillside resort to get directions, all led us to a steep gravel road up to a beautiful mountain pass. It took over an hour, but was definitely better than waiting in traffic.

This was a great show, set up by John, who played Arthur in Paint the Town, our last touring show. An artist warehouse, someone's birthday party, ping pong and steel industrial ball berring bocce in the courtyard, a machete and hairy monster glove.

The first musician, Silvery Antlers played some very energetic and positive noise music, then we performed for a great attentive audience, then Peter played his harsh drooly set, real nice and loud, and then another great band, whose name escapes me, lots of enthusiastic shouting and layers and layers of guitar, drone and beats. Kind of overwhealming yet relaxing at the same time. Maybe it was the nine hour drive, but we all dozed off breifly amid the hugely loud waves of sound they put out. Grand.

We crashed at the Boing collective, which seems like an awesome place where we definitely should've spent more than a few conscious minutes, but we were very exhausted, and had to get on the road pretty early this morning if we're gonna get some nature in on our drive day.

ROAD HAIKU (Denver to SLC):

Wyoming camels

now the water moves with us

mountain will kill us!

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Show 84: Denver, The Blastomat

TURNOUT: 5

MONEYS: $20, +$10 merch

INJURIES: Kate's loose pants led to a loose gun, which led to repetitive elbow bruising. Time to punch a new hole in her pants.

STORIES: We were in the right place at the wrong time or the wrong place at the right time. Basically, there was a "lady-centric" experimental music and art festival accross town called Tit Wrench. We started booking tour too late to get into this festival (and we're not sure if Kate would be lady enough to cancel out Peter and I, anyways). Jo at Blast-o-Mat warned us that it'd be a hard sell, and impossible to book local noisers to play with us, but we went ahead with the show anyway, and it definitely coulda worked out worse, all things considered.

Peter played his "weird" set, which was pretty awesome. I need to hear them all again, but right now i think i'm favoring his "theatre" set, mainly because of the drool.

ROAD HAIKU (Lincoln to Denver)

Short naps and big skies

that's a level three keeper

long drive among cows

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Lincon, NE at Cultiva Cafe

Here are two pics from Nebraska, the top one is slightly more interesting.

TURNOUT: 23

MONEYS: 98

INJURIES: Ben reeled his head back hitting my chin leaving it all novacainy feeling. Also, I scratched Ben's head in one part by acciddent leaving two red streaks. Another also, the metal clasp holding up Ulysses' pants was torn asunder and needs mending.

STORIES: Our first Cafe show of the tour. Shane of Monsters of Pot set it up and it went great. On the high end of cafe shows to date. Went to a goth show afterward with Shane that reminded me that I haven't seen goth or people that can dance as gracefully as that one guy did in a while. All in all, stellar times.

Peter played his quiet set. Which wasn't very quiet, more like an alien heartbeat and demonic chanting monster. Rawr! I like it.

Here's the haiku from the drive there:

Rolling hills rolling

across Iowa farmland,

dear jesus I'm bored.

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SHOW REPORT 82: PS1, Iowa City.

TURNOUT: 12

MONEYS: $16 door, $9 merch

INJURIES: Kate found a dying cockroach in the hallway, thought it was a junebug, felt compassion for it, attempted to recessitate it with small droplets of water, which it heartily drank, stood up and became more lively until her efforts were foiled by the janitor who swept the dying thing up and threw it away while she was elsewhere.

STORIES: A slightly disheartening start of the tour. Some nice and enthusiastic people came out, but we didn't make close to enough to get us to the next city. A late start meant there were a few intoxicated attendees, who probably annoyed the more intent and appreciateive audience members and generally soured the experience a bit.

Peter played his "theatre set" which is big and harsh and loud, featuring a long sample from a Beckett novel. It's been a long time since I've seen Peter play, and he continues to kick ass.

Here's a haiku about the drive to Iowa City:

exits more exits

is that a tornado there

just a pointed cloud

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New Tour!

We're on our way!

Also, the Buffalo Infringement Festival on July 30 - Aug 1!

MADNESS!
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Solidarity Showcase Report...

This is just a breif note to acknowledge the success of the Solidary Showcase. We raised $222 for the AVL11 legal defence and brought together a diverse array of performers and audiences, had fun, shared talents, and raised awareness of prisoner support, the Columbus ABC, and radical action in general. Also, I emceed the event dressed as a cop named Officer Acab, which was silly.

I left the event feeling like it was a good start, something I'd like to repeat and expand. So we'll be doing that, starting with a special homecoming performance of Ulysses' Crewmen, at the awarehouse, with some musicians or something, and with donations going to someone's legal defense fund. Some decisions still need to be made, details will appear here, there and everywhere as soon as they're figured out.

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Show 81: The People's Summit

TURNOUT: 17

MONEYS: $57

INJURIES: Kate hit me with the gun, fortunately, it was a gun she'd fashioned out of sticks and duct tape, cuz we can't take the real gun accross the border. So it wasn't really injurous.

STORIES: That was a really good show. Performance felt great. Audience was great (if a little small). Attended some wonderful workshops on Venezuela, Empowering Women within activist community and The Beehive Collective. Also some intense debates on diversity of tactics and transformative justice. We got to hang out with old pal Kelli and her wonderful friends we met last time we were up there, hospitality!

Things we coulda done better: tabled and promoted ourselves more. Not have to hurry home and prepare for our tour so as to stay and participate in some g20 actions. As flawed as summit protests and actions seem, an acute reminder and direct experience of my powerlessness against state and capital might have felt better than the constant low level nagging feeling of powerlessness that came with not going to the protests.

Did you see this show? What'd you think? Comment here. We'd love to hear from you, cuz we believe in Artistic Transparency.

It's been a while...

We've got some exciting things going on this month.

First, we're setting up a Solidarity Showcase for the Asheville 11. If you're in central Ohio and want to juggle for freedom or something, contact me. Insurgent.ben@gmail.com 414 305 9832. We've got a script or two looking for actors, no experience necessary.

Second, Columbus folks have started a monthly critical mass ride to an illegal food not bombs distribution on Batelle (military research facility) property. Last month was pretty out of control and fun. Escalation is inevitable.

Then we leave for a month long tour with Peter!

Economic Report: Florida Tour

Holy shit, that was quick. We've gotten used to being on the road for months at a time, two weeks was short!

It was also a pretty economically shaky tour. Before we left town we did another hundreds of dollars worth of work on the car. CV boots and tie rods were in bad shape. If we drove em til they failed we'd likely be stranded, or that shit would seize up the steering while moving 70 MPH.

We split those repair costs between us personally and the theatre company and got a promise from the new shop (who come highly recommended as honest people who don't tell you that only $500 worth of work is needed when they know full well that another $2000 is, like those other fuckers who screwed us over in the past). If they're wrong, we're scraping this heap and investing in something more reliable and a manual on how to fix cars ourselves. Maybe even something that runs on veggie oil.

Ignoring those car costs, here's how the tour went economically:

The best shows were in Florida, which is why we booked the tour in the first place. Unfortunately, we had a handful of prospective shows on our way down fall apart and one show on our way back (Atlanta) fail to gather any audience. That was a sketchy show, a non-profit with three people on staff to work a show they clearly didn't promote at all. There's something fishy about that.

Also, we started almost $100 negative with our totally insane trip to NYC for the Ides of March show (but that was also fun!). Better planning (psychic powers) woulda had us go there, then south to Florida along the coast and back up through Knoxville. But then we woulda missed Springsgiving, which was definitely worth driving home for.

Anyway, focusing on the positive: we visited two more great cities in Tennessee, met new people and helped fight the overzealous cops of Gainesville, got to hang out with Saara and Eric again, played with great hardcore bands in Sarasota and folk singers in Miami, saw lots of weird dangerous Florida nature, met great folks in Lake Worth, visited pals in St Augustine (though we couldn't get a show there) played in ocean waves, got to perform for our friends at the Patchwork house in Louisville and stayed up late talking politics there and at 64 King.

NEXT! We're currently booking a nice long July Tour with Peter J Woods (and taking his van, the USS Gerald Holiday). Going west with the show, playing mostly noise concerts, before we retire Ulysses' and move on to something new (but we'll keep it around for special occasions). We might also get a couple performances at The People's Summit or the US Social Forum in June.

Show Report 80: Home!

Turnout: 11

Support: $18

Injury Report: Kate no longer massages my hands at that one part. For some reaons she now squeezes and rubs them, like she's trying to grind my knuckles, or pull my skin off.

Show Description: We're back from tour and it feels great. Sally Louise and Alec haven't seen the show yet, so we decided to do a homecoming performance after the weekly Tuesday potluck at 64 King. Alec even re-read the Odyssey while we were gone! Friends and neighbors came by as well, and there were philosophical discussions on top of tactical discussions on top of semantic discussions. I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with both Justin and Zohar's completely contradicting interpretations of the play. Which makes me think that maybe the play, in all it's complexity and contradictions still actually expresses my viewpoint. We're all trapped in the middle of all these passionate concerns, second guesses, and hopeless choices. The challenge is to recognize that we cannot ever know what the best action is. Even though none of our conclusions, positive or negative are assured, we must keep moving.

Did you see this show? If you did, comment on it, critique it, or share your questions. We'd love to hear from you because we believe in artistic transparency.