PHOENIX AZ
PAPA (Phoenix Area Parade of the Arts) 7pm downbeat & parade
8pm set
Alice Cooperstown 10pm set
We arrived in Phoenix with the standard not enough time to pee, get a drink, pull your stinky costume out of your stinkier drum case & assemble your drum that is slowly falling apart, make the set list, warm up & drop the kids off at the pool. However, we somehow miraculously are pretty much on time for our downbeats. In this case, the show was running behind anyway, so I had a few moments to contemplate my navel. The tour has been so fast paced, I haven’t had many chances for the art of omphiloscepsis (the contemplation of one's navel), so any opportunity I can seize to just, well ZONE OUT, I TAKE IT! That 30 seconds there before the parade, really made a difference.
Phoenix came out all in their Halloween costumes & we led the procession through the streets of downtown and back to the stage. Unfortunately, when we got back, there was a really offensive fire performer doing his thing for at least 25 minutes, and most of the families left. Every other word out of his mouth was *UCK, SH*T, or other potty mouth type words, and while I too have been know to utter the potty mouth type of language, I don’t make it part of my pyrotechnics performance. Shocking, I know.
When we finally got to play, the crowd had thinned slightly, but we still had a great group to work with & we put on a good show. We played at PAPA last year too, and they are a bunch of great folks doing a lot to keep the downtown Phoenix scene alive & creative. Right after our set a big, fantastic fireworks show went off right over our heads! WOOHOO. I headed back to the bus to view it from the top. Sitting up there at 9pm, a few days before Halloween, at about 80 degrees, no humidity…I thought to myself, why do I live in Portland???? I do love Portland, but I dread going back to the cold!!!
After the fireworks show, we walked two blocks away, to Alice Cooper’stown, to get ready for our next set. Check out the link below, there are some really great photos of our set! http://slideshow.phoenixnewtimes.com/index.php?gallery=22303&type=0 It was our last show of the tour. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Oh, sorry. I may be a little dramatic there, take away three of the O’s. Everyone was very lose & fluid, tight & tingly, and there was a lot of playing with the audience. We rocked it, and one guy came up to me afterwards and told me our music & performance actually brought him to tears. Really? I inquired. He said, we had this synergy & this togetherness that 3 & 4 piece bands that play together for years never achieve. He himself had been playing music for many years, and he really was completely impressed that that many people are able to bring that kind of cohesion in such a unique & powerful way. Wow, Gee, Thanks…I’m blushing!!!! SEE, that’s the thing. Right there. That is what it is all about. It may have taken 7 weeks for us to get to that place where we can make grown men cry, but people, now that we are here, we are going to keep on going!
After the show we had a POWWOW to decide whether or not we wanted to play the afterparty. 1 parade, two full sets in one day, cannot hold back the tide of energy M4 has to offer, NO! Unanamously, everyone agreed to play the afterparty. YIPPEE! We loaded up & piled & brought on some extra fans for our own mobile afterparty. We marched in after creating a wicked party set list & were just getting our groove on 3 songs into the set with A Ya Bibi, when wahh wahh....the cops came & shut the place down. We kept playing as long as we could, but when the owner of the gallery ran up on stage and gave the old slitting the throat motion, we flubbed into the most uninpressive of wah wah wah bam boom ding crash blo blats ever in the history of endings.
DANG! The most anti-climactic end to our tour we could possibly imagine. But I like to think that the only thing that could have stopped M4 from rocking it that evening was the COPS! The man, gettin us down! Hell, it probably saved our lives, little do we know. We may have all popped blood vessels in our cerebral regions in the fastest known version of lesley metal ever to be attempted! We could all be dead today if it weren't for those men in blue! THanks Phoenix Police! But seriously, most of all, thanks Phoenix, you make the roll in rock & roll! We had a great time there, despite the PoPo & will definitly be back again!
AWWW YEAH! Keenan is still the reigning champion of M4 style though. 
Here we are after the show getting kicked out of the backstage area. Well, as long as there is beer & no one asks us to leave, why would we officer???
Scarlett & Nayana being coy....
Chillin after the set, in beautiful downtown portland waterfront park. Gotta love this city. It is good to be home.
And what an amazing set we played!!!!! The REVIEWS: 
Nathan filling the tank. 
OUCH!!!!! Jeez gas is expensive! It was 5.09/gal at this gas station in northern cali. It's about a dollar a gallon for us in the mad wretching spam boat at this point. Keep buying those t-shirts & cd's, every little bit helps!!!
We pulled into my folk's place at about midnight & awoke to a huge spread of eggs, bacon, pastries, fruits & all the fixings in the morning. We had to high tail it out by 10am to make it back to P-town for the BLUES FESTIVAL!!!!!
In the evening, the DON SWIRVING FESTIVAL TOUR is in full effect. Led by the one, the only, mr Swirving himself...as seen below:
Tours depart regularly in the evening from parking space #14. No refunds, no exchanges, only swirving & weaving allowed on the tour.
WARNING: tours may result in ecstactic states of being, excessive happiness, laughing until you cry & writhe in pain & finding what you've been looking for all these years....
When you aren't paying attention, you may even change skin color....
Or your chest hair could be sculpted into fantastic artworks....
After the tour, you might need some time to sit around with pals & reflect on the transformational effects.
And of course, drink margaritas.....
and eat buttered corn. That always helps.
THEY GO OUT ON THE LAKE WITH THIER GRACIOUS HOST & OWNER OF THE LAKESIDE CLUB & RESTAURANT, JO JO!!!! YIPPEEEEE!!!!!
THAT'S JO JO. HE WAS REALLY NICE. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHY????
TOP SHELF & TALL BOY CHILLIN.
AFTER A CHILLY DIP....
LONG STORY SHORT, AFTER THE LAKE, JOJO HOOKS EVERYONE UP WITH ALL THE FOOD & DRINK WE CAN POSSIBLE EAT, THEN WE MARCH THROUGH DOWNTOWN TAHOE CITY & BRING A SWEET LITTLE CROWD TO THE LAKESIDE WHERE WE PLAY 2 PHAT SETS, AND PARTY WELL INTO THE NIGHT. THEN WE STUMBLE BACK TO CAMP & TELL RAUNCHY JOKES UNTIL 4 AM. I'M SURE THE OTHER CAMPERS WERE NOT PLEASED...BUT, GREEN TEAM COOKED US A SWEET BREAKFAST, SO WE GOT OVER IT REAL QUICK....THANKS GREEN TEAM!!!!
They go to thier hotel rooms & drink & talk trash & ....
& .......
then they go assault the biggest little city in the world & take unwitting album cover shots
& pose with thier open containers on the street. 
Then they bask in the glory of another day gigging, by checking out the other performers from the vista a top the bus. Check out a snippet of our performance & the ArtTown festivities here: http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/SPECIAL03/80702001/
