The Great Race….

…to Bloomington, INDIANA & the LOTUS Festival.

Well, we weren’t exactly on time when we arrived at our gig in Indiana. We had about 30 minutes to wolf down some food at hospitality, get into our costumes, tune our horns & drums, scrape the crust out of our eyes & put on those smiles for a PARADE! What a welcome we received! The sleepy little town of Bloomington surprised us the warmest smiles. I was suspicious they put something in the water there, everyone was sooooo happy.

We did a 30 minute march around the town, where they have 5 or 6 different stages with different acts all going simultaneously. It was a real street party, everyone had colorful flags & banners & was really stoked to see us. Picked up our spirits a little, after the long haul, I think.

Then, at 10:45, we went on the Limosine Stage for a full 1.5 hour set. We went on after a band named 17 hippies. YOU HAVE TO CHECK THEM OUT! Their name is deceiving. It is not hippie music. It is very well played eastern European accordion & sirba & other styles. Check out their website: http://17hippies.com/17hneu_eng/index.html

We had such a great time with them. HOWEVER, there was about 15 minutes between when their set ended & ours began, and I don't think thier fan base really knew who was up next, or had never heard of us, so most of them left. People trickled in to see us once we started playing & I think we had a few hundred, plus more outside the tent, but it was definitely not as packed as when they were on stage. SO, it was a hard show for us because it was a big stage & venue, not a huge crowd, and we were all pretty tired from the traveling & gigging (& partying) so many days in a row. It was work, and as one of the 17 Hippies (UWE) said, “I’m not totally convinced”. Neither was I, frankly.

A few of us had the idea after the show that we would stopper the audience as soon as 17 Hippies finished for the Saturday night show. We would start at the back & march in, FORCING the audience to stay & hear us out! We knew they wouldn’t be able to resist once we started playing. SO, we talked to the sound guys, and they agreed with the plan. We also enlisted Michael Kennett's daughter, Ama, to do the promoting for us. I think that is what did the trick.

The next day we had TWO parades & one full set to play. Inbetween parades, I signed up for a 30 min massage, compliments of hospitality. WOOHOO! My shoulders & forearms needed some attention, and boy did that make a difference in my stamina & my chops for the long evening of music. The second parade was REALLY fun, people were crazy for us & we had to play an encore so the crowd wouldn’t bludgeon us with their flags! We got in our places behind the crowd, and once 17 Hippies went off the stage, we fired up the fun machine & took OVER! What a difference a DIFFERENCE makes!

The energy on stage was a blast, and the place was packed, I would say, our best show on TOUR. MAYBE one of our best shows EVER! There were many magical musical moments, but probably the most memorable was for the encore when the band moved into the crowd during our Crackhaus/Lets go gettum ENCORE when Sid & Nathan (Stiltwalkers) lifted TALLBOY (Bass DRUM) off the stage and above the crowd & the band while he was playing!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SOOO RAD! I wish I had a photo. If anyone reading this has one. PLEASE SEND IT!

Everyone was super pumped after the show, and even UWE from 17 Hippies said, in his sexy German accent, “Now, I am convinced.” We kidnapped a bunch of them & took them with us to the after party for all the bands at a three story building a few blocks from the venue at an organizer’s house named Tall Steve. We were happy to introduce him to Tall Boy (see photo left), and the two soon became fast friends. M4 soon became fast friends with everyone at this party. Some of us, too fast. And others, too friendly. Better to leave the party before the fast & friendly became slow & dirty. ONCE AGAIN, members of M4 led an epic jazz & funk odyssey to VALHALLA!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have some great video of that. You can actually see and hear it this time. Thanks to RUSS (Top Shelf) for leading the band of jammers into a musical frenzy. WAHWAHWEEWAWAHHH.

6 am did it for us, though, and we passed out, elated & sated, in our tents and various sleeping areas around the property of Nathan & Maggie, where we were lodging. The next day, Sunday, I pretty much slept until 11 am, ate a breakfast burrito, and passed out until 6pm, while the rest of the band worked on the farm, chopping wood & digging fire pits. Thank god for the Lord’s day of rest, or I think I would have burst something. Soon it was time to eat dinner, and pass out again. I did make some really yummy egg frittatta’s for the morning’s breakfast, though. (5 pans, 38 eggs, 2 lbs of cheese, 2 garlic heads, onions, broccoli, red & yellow peppers). So I wasn’t completely worthless that day. But almost.

We packed up our tents & gear this morning & were on the road only a half an hour late! WOOHOO! Today we have a 7 hour drive to somewhere in Pennsylvania where we will stay in a motel for the first time on tour. Then the next day we are outside of Baltimore at Topher’s mom’s house. YAY!