up the vegan punx tour - Fall 09 #1

San Diego
Riverside
Santa Barbara

the first night of tour was in San Diego at the City Heights Freeskool. It was sad to say goodbye to all my roomates and the friends i've made over the past couple months, but I'm excited to be touring again! The show itself was very relaxed, and i had a nice time just hanging out with some friendly and inviting people.

we made an awesome gluten-free vegan carrot cake for the day i left (which i piped some of the frosting flowers myself!!), but when i woke up that morning to enjoy it before leaving for Riverside i had discovered our kitchen had turned into a BATTLEFIELD. i had walked right into the middle of war between my roomates and a giant rat that's been eating our food and peeing everywhere for the past few weeks. there was a milk-crate corral circling our oven - everyone armed with a broom and our friend barry carrying the compost bucket in hopes of trapping him. now keep in mind, it was not our intention to hurt him - we set up a humane rat trap in the house that he was obviously too big to fit in and as they say: desperate times call for desperate measures. the battle raged on in the kitchen for about a half hour, everyone screaming and running for cover, until the rat finally made a final charge towards me, leaping OVER my side of the barrier and running straight into the downstairs bedroom. we ended up clearing the whole room out, attempted to make our milk-crate barrier again, and even had him trapped in the boxspring for awhile but he still managed to escape out of the room once again and barricaded himself inside the oven. we gave up for now, but he knows he's been in a fight... that's for sure.

the next day was the show in Riverside, which included a set by Acoustic Destroyer, a vegan potluck and a screening of the movie Jesus Camp (which gets scarier everytime i see it). After the show ended a womyn brought over a possum named Harriet that she had rescued which was one of the cutest animals i have ever met in my life! super cuddly! everyone in riverside is always so sweet to me and i look forward to going back there time and time again.

we (my friend andy and myself) drove into Santa Barbara last night to skip the heat and LA traffic, which was a huge relief. i didnt have a show today so we spent the day eating Thai food at my all time favorite restaurant here in SB, and jumping off the goleta pier.
while leaping off the banister of the pier, a guy that works at the bait shop approached us trying to "suggest that we leave" because the lifeguard was watching and we'd be getting tickets if we didn't stop. I had just jumped off at the time while doing a 'flying squirrel'(which is a move where you grab your ankles and look straight up at the sky while falling), so our friend scott asked him what he thought about it... with no reply, haha. so once he turned his back of course scott jumped off immediately - resulting in the man getting in my face asking for my name while i laughed at him. once he walked back to his shop we had past on the way out asking once again what he "thought of the flying squirrel" and once he didn't respond, i exclaimed "it was nice, huh?" and then asked for his name repeatedly in a voice that mocked his own. hahaha.
for all of you that already thought i was a smartass - this confirms it.

hope to see you soon my friends

love always
mike xvx