Dire Straights

As the week progressed, I was feeling better flu-wise, but still sticky in the lungs and brain ( I can't even think straight). A visit to my nice new doctor armed me with a one-dose course of antibiotics. Due to the vicissitudes of timing, I was forced to take it a few hours before our gig. As I swigged down the revolting immitation banana flavored fluid, I read the warnings:

"may cause nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, heart palpitations, vomiting..."...uh oh. I seem to be prone to side effects?

And indeed, my stomach hurt soon enough. Another side effect was to swiftly follow--oh readers, the most delicate way to put it is that it was not an ideal situation for a gig night, but what are you gonna do? The rockshow must go on, and so on.

We headed up to Dolores Park Cafe for a benefit for AMY MEYERS and CINDY BUCK's Yard Concert series. Amy & Cindy were in a frenzy setting up the PA, and and an overall rising sense of excitement was in the air. Soon the show commenced with a series of wee sets by a bunch of acts--including but not limited to:
PAM & JERI ( of Blame Sally)
Shelley Doty
Groovy Judy
Kitty Rose
and more more more. We played our new song, the mini-rock-opera "SEA OF TRANQUILITY" ( and a few other tunes) I then sat in with a supergroup lineup of Amy's band-- Pam Delgado, Jeri Jones Judea Eden ( and me). When I told Pam of my digestive complaints, she flipped her drum over and pointed inside it as if to say: you can aim in here during our set, in case of dire straits. How downright neighborly!

At the end of the set Gary and Andrew joined with us girls and we burned through a massive version of Judea Eden's tune, "WAYSIDE" ( from her new CD). At the end the band pumped out a big crescendo with whooshing bass, strumming guitars, crashing cymbals, and while I jumped up on the keyboard to get closer to the keys, I realized someone was spanking me--Judea! Bonus for the audience, and for me, too--and fun for the whole famille.

The next day was ANOTHER big lineup fundraiser event, this time at EL RIO with a raffle, free BBQ and many peeps. This particular benefit was dedicated to raising funds for the excellent new documentary: ATOMIC MOM by MT SIlvia.

Today there were less bands and longer sets, so we got to enjoy more tunes by:
Chula (a new supergroup with Maria Stanford, Robin Roth, Shelley Doty, and Jeni Day).
Pam and Jeri ( Again--yay!)
and BLUE RABBIT
and of course, us. We once again did a superdupergroup rendition of "WAYSIDE" which was even more colossal this time. There was a screening of the 9-minute trailer for Atomic Mom (afterwards there were no dry eyes to be found in the house). On the other hand, there was also a surprise appearance from MARGA GOMEZ! who is always a cause for great hilarity. So, we laughed we cried we rocked. We raised $$ for a good cause. Burgeres were eaten, friends were hugged. Raffle prizes were won. Drinks were drunk.

Later at the after-party / pizza demolition event we recounted our fave moments of the past week. Oh readers, it was all a kind of a blur to me, this mini-tour interrupted as it was with the flu and flux, cough drops, sneezes, and doctoring. Yet, now here we were--I was on the mend and intact and we didn't miss one show--and the shows were some of our best ever. Onward! Onward we push! Through dire straits and straights and narrows.