FTE On Tour_TEXAS (Part 1) 8/13

As the sun sets in the Houston skyline, we bullet through Texas into a horizon etched with pink, peach and purple streaks. The faint aroma of an "Icy Hot" product waifs through Lunette's interior as ROSE ROBIN reclines with a strained back, sleeping soundly. Hopefully she'll feel better soon, as she savors the last remaining flavor of the homemade Pecan Pie we just had from the TIGER DINER. Yeah. We ate real good in New Orleans.

Darkness falls quickly and the candy-colored sunset gives way to a black sky filled with Texas stars. Still about an hour and a half away from Austin...time to start looking for a place to camp.

Riding through BRENHAM, TX we spot a sign for Rocky Creek Park and turn onto a gravel road which takes us to a rusty gate that's locked tight. After backing out to re-trace our steps, in the pitch blackness we see a light. It looks like a hotel sign.

"Maybe they know where we can camp.", we thought, making our way toward the sign.

We pull into the parking lot of a huge roadhouse lodge called "TOAD HOLLOW ICE HOUSE".
















It was a bar/resturant with a large outdoor seating area. The entire structure was made out of brand new cedar.

I immediately harbor a queasy, unsettled feeling-having seen cheezy movies about angry rednecks that hang outsiders for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Our brightly-colored "Hippie" bus pulls into the parking lot.

C•Spot & Erin hop out and bounce over to a tall, slender blonde woman sitting in the back area, beaming with fairy smiles.

I scrunch down a little deeper into my seat.

The two return, sporting even wider smiles.

"They said we can stay here! Told us to pull around to the rear!", they sing with glee.

"They did?", I warble, swallowing hard. The bad New Yorker inside of me twitches a little, deathly afraid of being lynched by unfriendly Locals. Shit, a bunch of "Townies" in New Orleans gave us the wrong directions on purpose and we ended up getting rescued by a kind family who gave us a map of the area, stern warnings about where NOT to walk and smiles.

I swallow hard again as a few people hanging out in the roadhouse's huge picnic area come over to the bus for a closer look.

"Her name is "Lunette", C•Spot cheerfully tells them, smiling happily and covered in glitter. The onlookers are delighted. No match for strong fairy magic.

A (hot blonde) woman named Jennifer invites us to sit down and have some beers. I breathe a sigh of relief and get off the bus. She introduces us to a cool guy named Wayne, her boyfriend Mike (The manager) and Tammy (the owner) There is nothing but love at this place. Love for us in Texas. So much for the "Avatarded New Yorker's" pre-concieved notions about Texans & southern hospitality. I now stand humbled in the face of Texas love.

Mike invites us to camp in the area behind the roadhouse. We can't make a fire because of the state's "Burn Ban" (real dry, no rain) so Rose makes Fried Okra on our camping stove. Yum. Tents go up. We sleep.

We awaken up to strong coffee, awesome oatmeal, enormous breakfast burritos and WAYNE who greets us with a friendly "Good Morning Fairies!". As the morning manager does the blog, we plug in our computers and do a quick edit before hitting the road. After giving ROSE her first ride in a '69 muscle car, Wayne gives us some magic items (See Rose's "Toad's Hollow" video) and we speed off into the dry Texas heat.






Charlotte seems to have an eye for funky little coffee joints. As we speed through Giddings, Texas she pulls Lunette over (or, visa versa) to a cute little yellow coffee shop with a drive through window called "THE BUZZ BEAN". (www.giddingsbuzzbean.com)









The sign out front read " Sit 'n sip in the rear". We park Lunette and walk around the back to find a cute little porch with tables & chairs. A woman named JO greets us with a friendly smile, an ash tray for our rollies and some of the best coffee we've ever had.











"I can't believe I didn't wear my bumble bee costume today!", she said as we threw our heads back and enjoyed a good laugh inbetween sips of sexy Iced Mocha frapps and "Mango Tango" fresh fruit smoothies. Also impressive was the air conditioning in the Buzz bean's interior and the in-house book swap. Jo gives us a magic item (A silver lighter cover with a FAIRY on it) and our jaws drop. After a round of information exchanges and REAL hugs, we set off to Austin.


We arrive in AUSTIN, TEXAS at the BOUDIN CREEK COFFEEHOUSE and meet our contact: an amazing soul named ODEIL. After a real good BBQ veggie burger (and lots of coffee) we drive to her house to plan our next bit of fairy madness.

FTE On Tour_NY_PA_VA_NC 8/23-8/1

THURSDAY: Keith, Ethan & FTE fairy MEREDITH (The Mumbles) play a show on a boat. We stage a pirate takeover of the ship and end up tricked by Faries into having sex with an octopus. After this, THE PIMPS OF JOYTIME rock the boat.

SUNDAY: We perform on the WATERPOD, docked at 125th st. After a violent afternoon thunderstorm chase away most of our audience, the "ecosystem-on-a-barge" stops swaying to and fro. The crew then invites us to dine with them.

As they prepare a scrumptious meal of fresh fish and veggies grown on the pod, we sing FTE songs for a crowd that has gathered by the dock. (Rose video coming). After an encore, we dine under a DOUBLE RAINBOW that stretches over Harlem.

MONDAY:Left Brooklyn in the bus (Lunette) to Philly.

Hit a flat tire around Camden, New Jersey.

Rose & I walk 2 miles to get a new tires in he hot sun. Four quarts of sweat spew out from under my black Yankees cap. We buy the tires. Rose leaves to go get a jack and I carry the two bagged tires to the corner & wait for her thinking, 'How the f@#k are we gonna carry these big-ass tires back to Lunette?"

Just then, a kind brother named ROB drives up in a silver SUV and asks me where I'm going. I explain our dilema and he offers to give us a lift.

Rob (and his two youg sons, ages 4 and 7) not only drove us back to Lunette, but he also drove us through the streets of Camden, NJ to look for a tire repair shop, then rounded up a bunch of truckers to help us out. They agreed to help without blinking a lash. One guy changes a tire using Ether & a match. (Video of all of these encounters will be uploaded soon by Rose. You gotta see this.)

All rejoice. The kids recieve homemade candy. They smile, smacking loudly with shiny red & purple lips. Fairy hugs and Obama fist bumps make their rounds. Our Angels Of Camden (actually) drive off into the sunset.

Now we are ready to drive the rest of the way to Philly. It's only ten minutes away.

Yup. Only ten minutes away.

TUESDAY: We are greeted in West Philly at Rachel's crib. (More on her & her peeps later. That tribe is delightfully Avatarded.) We schedule a 2pm performance in the center of RitenHour Park.

Rose & I warm up the crowd performing a new bit called "The Dancing Doll" where I play drum and she moves like a puppet activated by sound. Then the FTE perform 3 skits. A stunned and gracious Philidelphia crowd recieves us warmly.

After the show, a guy named Richard gives us some soap. (By now, I'm needing it. We did the show in the hot sun.) He also invites us over for a home cooked meal. Rose & I Leave for South Philly, her wearing a Tutu and me bangin' a drum.

Richard feeds us as we play with his 16 month old pitbull puppy. His roomates discuss going to a drum circle later in the evening. We leave with Richard for an open mic at a Jazz club in Center City.

Intercepted by a cool social worker who wants to know where the show is.

Please remember: Rose looks great in a TuTu. People stop us and ask us "Where's the show?". They don't just ask. They ask like they want to come. If that's Philly, then give me more. I like it.

The cool social worker gives us a tip on another open mic nearby. We sit for 2 songs, then move on.

Stop by TSOP store. (See Rose for video). Move on to open mic.

Stop by live band playing in a storefront window. We join them, jam out on "No Woman No Cry". Move on to open mic.

Arrive at open mic at Jazz club. Rose interviews the woman at the door. {VID} She gives a tour of the club. The piano player asks us to stop filming.

We catch the trolley back to Rachel's house. We arrive and perform for Rachel, her housemates and her visiting cousin. Rachel tells us about a really cool guy named Cooper, living in a community called Ashville down in "Nawth Cack-a-lack-a". We write down his number. Recount the days events. Music jam. Sleep. Early drive Tomorrow. We're off to Washington D.C.

WEDNESDAY: Arrive in DC mid-morning. Rose & I walk by the FBI Building and meet a cool black laborador K-9 officer named "Power". His badge had a little picture of a dog on it. We continue down Pensylvania avenue and on to the White House.
















Rose shoots video of me singing "Obamasong".
We shoot additional footage at the Lincoln Memorial.

















We stop by the Smithsonian Air / Space museum then back to Lunette. Off to Shenandoa National park in Virginia.


Very ironic how I run outta cigarettes in Virginia. Maybe it's a sign I should stop.

We make camp. Rose makes Crepes. We snuggle into place in our tents under a starry sky. In the morning we move to another location called " The Loft Mountain Campground".






THURSDAY: At the camp there is an ampitheater with stunning views of the Shenandoa Mountian range. A perfect canvas on which to paint Fairytale Experiment magic. We immediately put out the word to the people of the camp; "Show tonight in the ampitheater at 7!"

We quickly outline a show, walk through it and pull costumes. After hanging a sign on Lunette that reads: "Performance Tonight", we drive from camp to the theater to see cars in the parking lot. Our audience awaits!

It begins to rain.

We enter the theater playing drum loudly and dancing through the waiting campers and families. They patiently sit & smile in rain gear and watch us do our thing. The rain stops half way through the show. At the end, we sing the magic song & take a bow.

We get back to camp and watch the sunset. Rose makes more amazing crepes. We tell jokes by a roaring fire and laugh till bellyhurt. Huddle in tents. Sleep. Tomorrow we are off to North Carolina.




FRIDAY: A sudden morning fog sweeps across the camp and slings us off the mountian. We zip through Virginia like a bullet. We stop at White's Truck Stop for waffle fries and a peek at the Firearm museum. Yup. There it was. The gun used in the movie "Death Wish" by Charles Bronson. Good fries, too.

The game room is filled with all first-person shooter coin-ops. There's even one video game created by the U.S. Army. Never saw that before. I force a smile as I walk by 50 or so little "Uncle Tom" dashboard dolls.

We drive through Virginia and Tennesee to Mars Hill, North Carolina. We are greeted by our new friends Ryan Cooper and Jason Boyer who treat us like family. They and trusty dog Stella Blue bless us with veggie goodness from the garden in the backyard and more:

Zuchinni Bread

Homemade Cole Slaw

Homemade saurkraut

Picked beets

Picked summer squash

Fresh (from the garden) bean dip

Chicken sausage

& gallons of Honey Mead.

Too busy eating now. Planning something special. Stay tuned.

J/A