The Shondes in Humboldt County?

When we booked Arcata, CA, we didn't even realize we'd be heading to the fabled Humboldt County. We also didn't realize how rad the venue and booker were going to be, but not long after arriving (grateful to have left SF again!) we were treated to exellent 1/2-price food at The Alibi and had the pleasure of meeting the lovely booker, Ian, who greeted us with bear hugs and put on an awesome show for us, complete with the best sound I think I've ever experienced at such a heimishe, small venue. The crowd was big and energetic (especially for a late-night show on a Sunday!) and made us feel right at home. We enjoyed our second time playing with our new equipment and started to feel ready to really move on post-theft. So on we go. Off to Homoagogo!

We read this aloud in the van and nearly drove off the road laughing

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0602/scoobydoo.html

The definition of "Scooby Doo" is particularly precious. We suggest you read it aloud.

love,
The Shondes

post-robbery agenda: buy underwear, 3 amps, 2 guitars, replace van window, then play show

So after waking up Friday morning back in SF (a week after our last show there) after a 15 hour drive from Seattle ("really, it's worth it to us!" we had claimed in response to many an incredulous friend), finding the van window smashed and all our shit gone (except the drums?!)....we did what any good band would if able: we went into debt buying 3 new amps, replacing the window our insurance squirmed their way out of covering, bought a new bass and guitar, underwear and socks and mourned the loss of ian's gorgeous rickenbacker, my vintage slips collection (cultivated since age 13) and various other precious items. Even my tanakh was stolen (jewish bible). So that was cute.

"Nothing will stop us from playing tonight!"; that was our thought. What would be more depressing than driving 15 hours out of your way to play SF for the second time, getting robbed and then NOT playing? So, with a fresh couple thousand dollars of debt, we found ourselves arriving at the Edinburgh Castle Pub just in time to load-in, try out our new instruments and amps and wing it for an awesome Femina Potens event.

Thankfully, a few good queers in the audience helped us keep our spirits up enough to play. And thankfully, we fucking love playing our music. Even if I'd never played our songs on this particular bass I'd just purchased... where do my fingers go? Why does the neck feel so sticky? It was definitely difficult, but we made it through...

Equipment Stolen in SF

Hey All -

Overnight on the 28th, in San Francisco, we had a ton of our equipment stolen from our van. If you or people you know are in the area and can be on the lookout for this stuff, we'd really appreciate it. We still have a month of our tour left and losing all this stuff was really devastating. We will pay what we can to get any or all of it back, and would love to track down even some of it.

What's Lost:

-SHONDES T-SHIRTS: These are in a dark green carpet-y rolling suitcase with a floral pattern and a zipper/pockets. There were about 100 t-shirts, some black with pink print and some white with red print. The front reads "The Shondes" and the back reads "Proud to be a Shonde" with a heart around it. They were rolled up individually with masking tape and the size written on them. We poured our hearts into their design and our resources into getting them made, so even if you've seen a couple in a dumpster or a thrift shop, be in touch.

-THREE AMPS:
-A 1970's (73 or 74) Fender Twin Reverb Amp - should have blue sticker label inside indicating recent work by Old Time Music in Portland. Has two Eminence Patriot Cannabis Rex speakers installed.
-a Fender Hotrod Deluxe, has a little tag on the handle with the number 8 on it
-an acoustic Roland AC60, was lost in soft black case with carry handle.

-A GUITAR: A beautiful Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo (black), with Rickenbacker HB1 pickups installed, 2004, black with white pickguard. Was taken with a white strap with a green phoenix pin.

-A BASS: A fender Squire Musicmaster peach/pink with red strap with faded white lightning bolt. Has straplocks.

-OUR CLOTHES: 4 suitcases, full of clothes and dirty laundry: Navy blue carry-suitcase with red piping and red handle, beat up. Large black (Pierre Cardin) rolling suitcase, contains vintage slip collection and lots of clothes. Large navy blue duffel bag, full of clothes. Green duffel bag with maroon leather trim and handles.

Seattle Love

Let me just say, we fucking love Seattle. We arrived at the best collective house any of us have ever been to to find signs on the couch from a protest that the new Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace had organized in response to a "We stand with Israel" rally put on by Seattle's Jewish Federation. Needless to say, we knew we were in the right place, and were relieved and excited.

We hardly got to see the city, which sucks, but we got to hang out with the awesome people in the house quite a bit. We slapstickishly slept all in one bed together- with Eli transfering to the floor in the night, and then spent the whole next day talking and talking and talking and more talking with Bruin and Ronni. Not to mention the tour of the beautiful garden, lessons on pickling, and eating blackberries that we picked in the alley.

Seattle queers and Seattle JVP turned out a great crowd. Alex Guy deserves special props for putting this show together totally last minute. It was really special to play to people we'd been talking politics and family and life with all day, and to whom we felt instantly connected to, despite a P.A. bent on putting bizarro effects on our vocals against out will.
We returned after the show to more heimishe talking, pickle eating, and sadness at having to go to bed early to leave for our 15 hour drive back to San Francisco.

Comment Away!

As per request, you no longer have to be a blogger member to comment on our blog! Below is a picture of a really good tour snack that The Shondes enjoy (water-logged tofurkey, corn chex, mustard).

Pizza in Portland

On our way to Portland, we drove through gorgeous mountains and beautiful fields. We arrived to a heatwave, but stayed in a beautiful house.



At our show at Mississippi Pizza, we got to play with The Gay Deceivers, New Bloods, and The Golden Bears. Unfortunately due to crazy sound problems, the bill got cut short and we didn't get to hear the Golden Bears, but New Bloods were so awesome- singing drummer, violinist, powerful harmonies all around- now that's my kind of band.



Despite technical difficulties, help from enthusiastic fans and Eli's aunt and cousin meant we had a blast.

SF: New Yorkers do The Bridge

The night we rolled up to San Francisco's El Rio, there was something special happening at the karaoke bar next door that included the *most* earnest and painful rendition i have EVER heard of a most unfortunate Neil Diamond song. And I've been to MANY karaoke nights in my day.

El Rio has a cozy backspace and the evening's four bands piled into the narrow room with all our equipment - it was us, Help Yourself (rock-out, their second show EVER, and thanks SO MUCH to emil et al for hosting us for two days!), Trannysaurus Sex (whose name we clearly love to post places and whose performance was highly entertaining and energetic, and Scarletto (excellent trans/feminist hip hop)- to set up for the show. This was a fabulous bill of v nice and refreshing queer musicians who we were really excited to connect with.

Jews for a Free Palestine came out with t-shirts and materials - thanks so much to Amie and Mer and everyone else who came to rep their awesome anti-occupation work in the bay area. After the show, we returned to Emil's where we unwound and met the adorable cats. We slept really well and VERY late in the incredibly temperate SF-nighttime air.

I think I need to come clean about a slightly underwhelming experience on the Golden Gate bridge. We were all pretty excited to traverse the legendary orange majesty and sing the full house song, natch. It was 6:30 on a Saturday and we were suddenly plunged into standstill traffic. There are only so many times you can sing "Whatever happened to predictability..." without wanting a little bit to die. We finally got onto the orange part and realized that, lo, you CAN'T SEE THE BAY through the orange bars. we were, at this point, confused. We turned around after about an hour in traffic and realized that, lo and BEHOLD, we had to pay a FIVE DOLLAR TOLL to return. we did, very resentfully, and took a series of bridge-frustration-self-portraits. as we sailed by it at the speed of an ill snail, we noted it would probably be beautiful if we could pull off at the 'scenic view' point (which was marked with a 'full' sign) and watch the sea lions.

finally, ian traded in her old amp for a new one in a tiny SF music store. we are all really excited about the new sound this will yield, and about the process of becoming, collectively, an ENORMOUS music nerd. (also, of course, we ate two great breakfasts. goes without saying.)

Below are our photos from the aforementioned Golden Gate Bridge experience. Please note the underwhelmed-ness.

Los Angeles: A Troubled Entry

LA was incredibly fun and and we spent our nights wisely and productively having Shonde-fied adventures (see LA tourism entry for details).

However, we didn't play our LA show. We had been really excited about it - it was a bill of queer local bands, and we'd never played LA (well, technically, Long Beach) before. It had also been a day or two since our last show, so we were ready to perform. We piled into the van and 45 minutes later pulled up to the venue - a local family restaurant and bar.

As we pulled up, we registered the restaurant’s 'Old West' theme, conveyed by a mural across the front/outside wall; we all took note of the racist, stylized image of an 'Old West Indian' (naked, kneeling, with war paint, etc.), and were really troubled. We weren't entirely surprised, of course, because racist images of indigenous people and appropriated aspects of indigenous culture are incredibly common, and the normalization of these images are part of what makes that particular kind of racism function.

We stood by the van talking for a while, mostly to think through the implications of playing and of not playing. It became really clear that there was no 'good' thing to do - not playing, at a very basic level, felt like sticking to an anti-racist bottom-line in some important ways: 1) we obviously don’t want to support businesses that cavalierly invoke genocide to create a retro ‘old west’ aesthetic. 2) But also in many white-dominated, subcultural spaces (including queer spaces), there's often a tacit consent to racism/racist imagery/cultural appropriation, often in the interest of kitsch value, camp or humor. As white people entering that space, there was no question that we needed to undermine the normalization of the imagery in some way. There’s also often an implicit/not so implicit classism in that kind of kitsch- like isn’t it funny to come to this white working class or lower middle-class bar or restaurant where there’s this funny racist stuff that “we” don’t normally see.

On the other hand, playing the show would provide an opportunity to have a conversation (in a different way than if we weren't playing) about the image (and what it represents) in that space, a space where we were passing through, and a space we had no relationship with. Playing would mean starting a relationship with a seemingly really vibrant LA queer community; nonetheless playing would be, at some level, an implied consent to having a “radical” show in that space, and that felt totally unacceptable to us.

We spent some time talking with people in the other bands, getting into questions about what it would mean for a non-local band to vocally take on racist imagery at a local space, versus what it would mean for them, as local acts, to take it on. We talked about how if we were at home in Brooklyn and found ourselves in a similar situation with a venue, we'd take it on with the space and with our community. They talked to us about how the restaurant was one of the few good show spaces in town, and that the evening's show was one of the first (and few) queer and feminist events to happen there. As we continued to talk with the bands both inside the space and in the parking lot, something started to happen. The conversation intensified and people talked about what challenging and calling out that racism would mean for them, as locals. People also talked about the work they are doing to make space for women and queers making music, particularly at this venue, and the representative weight of us not playing the show. We want to support that work, and they began talking about what it would mean for them to challenge racism as part of the space they were creating. It was a hard scene to walk away from - charged with anger and ideas in a way that felt really productive.

Throughout tour we have been talking about the privilege of mobility and of traveling across the country - a country none of the four of us have ever seen this much of, and yet in many ways are accountable for and to. There is no way to slide through the U.S. as a privileged band on tour with *any* kind of consciousness (let alone explicitly radical politics) and not deal with questions like this one.

So we're very committed to continuing this conversation with the bands we were supposed to play with in LA. We're also committed - as we have been, but in a way that's reinforced by this concrete experience - to being really conscious about what spaces we play, how we interact with those spaces, and how we maintain an anti-racist bottom line in our creative work that is both unwavering and has the ability to open up space for conversation about what that really means. Cause after all, as one of the other band members there reminded us, racist and classist and misogynist and homophobic shit happens in all kinds of art and food and community spaces - and though that may seem a little obvious to anyone who's either thought about or experienced it, it's crucial to remember that fact, and to keep it visible.

Brannigan wanted this post to be called "alongside the river great things are happening" but while all that may be true, that's a terrible title

Most of us had never heard of Riverside, CA before we booked a show there at the Daily Grind, but we'll definitely be going back. Tina Bold, host of the Vinyl Hours weekly radio show on KUCR 88.3 FM, does an incredible job putting together shows and took care of finding a space after the venue we'd booked at shut down just days before the show. We played in a hot basement full of people and had a great time. It was a really fun example of a great DIY space.

b

Leaving Las Vegas/L.A. Love

Have you been told like a trillion times that you'd hate LA? I have. And all I have to say to all you nay-sayers is: LA is fascinating. Come there with me and I'll prove it you.

Perhaps it was equal parts Vegas-overload and Buffy/90210 fandom that made our time there so awesome, but it has nonetheless become my favorite West Coast city. But I only speak for myself (Louisa) not the rest of the Shondes, so take it up with me if you've got a problem with it.

Here are some of our favorite moments:

we got to drive through the desert on the way there!


We ate excellent brunch at the Brite Spot in Echo Park.









Comparing foot sizes: Louisa vs. Vader, Ian vs. R2D2


Visiting Torrance High, where BOTH 90210 and Buffy were filmed.

Ladyfest Las Vegas

Ladyfest Las Vegas is one of the most inspirational events I've heard about in a good, long time. Taking the Ladyfest model to a new level by carefully defining a pro-trans politic within the festival - Ladyfest Las Vegas is about creating space for those who don't benefit from the gender/sex binary - including anyone who identifies as female or trans... This excites me because it consciously comes out of a rich history, moving a powerful identity politic to a new place with new possibilities. As someone who came up playing Riot Grrrl conventions at age 13, it was heartening to see what appears to be a healthy outgrowth of that era. Despite protests (including threats of "DudeFest") and great adversity, the LFLV organizers pulled off a totally hot event that we're proud to have been a part of. They even received a full page picture in a section of the local paper that we were told has never previously pictured women wearing clothes. Mazel tov all around LFLV!

It was everyone's first time in Vegas and *wow* was it surreal. We stayed at the FABULOUS TROPICANA and I would say the band's mood oscillated wildly between fascination and deep despair as we cruised the strip and were forced to eat $10 veggie burgers at the hotel's 24/7 restaraunt "Calypso," b/c the idea of leaving the hotel and entering the hot chaos somehow seemed utterly unbearable. And remember - we live in NYC! We thrive on the hot chaos! But this was, well, something else. Below is a photo of eli that pretty much sums it all up.


That same night, out of the dire need to escape from the 24-hour neon glow of the strip, we made a plan to drive into the desert so that we could see the massively open sky. As it happened, we planned to do this as a massive summer thunderstorm rolled into the city, so we drove out anyway to park and watch an astounding lightening show. The pictures we took don't do it justice but they're pretty awesome.

Sadness in Santa Fe

Arriving in Santa Fe was pretty intense for us. For most of us it was our first time experiencing such a desert-like climate in this country. A beautiful drive with much water-drinking. We ate excellent food (chiles!) and got a crash course in the colonial history of Southwest (well, a mini-crash course) including the current era of liberal hippie colonization.

Staying with our old friend Tobe brought mostly sadness.... sometimes you have to lose things you love.

Fittingly, the show (though fun as always) was dubbed "the worst show debacle of aut six." Temim's kick pedal combusted itself halfway through our first song and the allergic hell of the past week caused me (Louisa) to nearly lose my voice - which mind you, NEVER happens. So there was some screaming, and some audience members tring to repair the kick pedal while we continued playing and Temim attempted to valiantly KICK the bass drum.

Backroad Pizza was a great host to us despite the technical debacles, providing us with delicious food and great new fans.

Denton: Heimishe capitol of the U.S.

Thanks to Dwayne and Mariel, (Denton's finest musician- writer- booker- extraordin- aires) Denton felt as heimishe as you can imagine. It's a SHONDE (the bad kind) that we couldn't stay longer! In any event, be sure to check out their band The Beatdown, who were sadly unable to play with us at Rubber Gloves. Although if any more bands had been added to the bill, we would have had to split the $4 profit even further. Yes, that's right - we were paid $4. Now, I'm the first person to want to assure that sound techs and other venue employees get paid, but this was intense. To be told "I'm sorry, we didn't make enough to cover expense," now that I can understand. But to be handed 4 dollar bills with an elaborate receipt? Quite something, right? Good thing the show was a blast and it's such a fun venue to play at.


Where the hell are we? After years in the Northeast and weeks traveling through the east coast and the South we entered the deserts of the southwest, and shit, how incredible they were. Upon departing Denton we headed off for New Mexico, stopping on the side of the road to take note of the flatness.

Austin: The Allergy Capitol of the U.S.

Unfair title, I know. Austin is so much more than just the allergy capitol of the country, but for some of us - namely Louisa and Ian - allergies and athsma were a significant part of our experience of Texas' capitol. Rad people, pitbulls and accomodations were fabulous though, and did a good job of tempering the allergic crises.

It shouldn't go unmentioned that the bill we were a part of at Red River's delightful Beerland was dominanted by women, queers and trannies, which is always a plus. Dreadful Sorry, The Quicks and The Tuna Helpers were all on board and in high form. Dreadful Sorry even featured a cello, making it an evening of queers AND strings. All too rare.

After waiting for *two years* to see the Tunas' delivery my childhood favorite: "The Phantom of the Opera" with their uncanny gothic perfection, I was disappointed when Adrienne announced their last song and no "Phantom" had been heard. Thankfully her sister Bethany was there to advocate for me. Adrienne, even without her very necessary stobe light, was convinced and made my night with an impromptu performance, including her spinning ghost helmet. If you haven't seen these guys live, you better make a point to do so asap.

Punk Rock in Houston

Good punk is alive and well in Houston, thanks to Something Fierce. We had the pleasure of playing with them at Helios with Sweet Teeth, where we had a fabulous time, mundane sexual harrasment on the stage and nearly averted mic stand casualties aside! Unfortunately we didn't have our camera at this show, so sorry for the lack of pictures, but check out the cute video that Steven from Something Fierce made of us playing I Watched The Temple Fall on youtube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=9xnqekWyaBE&search=shondes). Thanks, Steven!

New Orleans: Girlgang Productions Rocks!

In New Orleans, we played an inspiring show put on by Girlgang Productions. We played at The Circle Bar, a beautiful red and homey-feeling bar, a benefit for the Latino Health Outreach Project, an organization providing important medical and holistic health services and outreach to a Latino/a community that's been rapidly growing as a result of post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. The NOLA crew came out to support LHOP and were an incredible and energetic crowd.

We've already been told by several people at this point that we "eat like monsters", and here we really went all out. From a gay diner in the "fuit loop" to fried pickle poboys, beignets, and homemade icecream with flavors like spicy vanilla bean, we really went to town.

Our Girlgang and New Orleans Network friends took us on what they call "the tour of devastation". This was hard, both seeing what had happened to the city itself, and learning a lot about the less-reported-on aspects of Katrina, like the abandoning and trapping of prisoners, and the work of organizations like Safe Streets Strong Communities who've been working on fighting the reprocussions of that and also bringing to light police/legal abuses that far predate Katrina. We talked a lot about the "rebuilding effort" that will displace many and slash public and low-income housing, and we were really inspired by the work that all of the organizations I've mentioned are doing.

Also, we learned about a company called Access Denied, who were the ones to provide the metal barriers blocking up all the doors and windows of very mildly affected public housing to keep people from returning to their homes, and were told about how someone living on the richest street in NOLA hired a private Israeli security company called Instinctive Shooting International to hover helicopters over the street to protect the houses from looting. Yeah. I'm not kidding. That pretty much blew our minds.

Pensacola: Farther Than Can Speak

We drive into Pensacola, going farther and farther into the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. We have an amazing time at the beach, luxuriating and recovering from Apocolyptic Visions. We see adorable crabs walking sideways and many crustations burrowing in the sand.

We play at End of the Line Cafe, an adorable collective coffeeshop and vegetarian/vegan restaurant where we're fed well on delicious food and excellent fair-trade coffee.

Apocalyptic Visions of Atlanta

1. Temim's first time EVER seeing the Star Wars trilogy. Shonde. The bad kind.
2. Fermented things: carrots, cauliflower, pepperoncinis. Pickled gevalt. We die.
3. Lots of time at an empty lakehouse with swimming dogs and unbelievable vegetarian barbeque.
4. Smoked fish and tofu upon arrival!
5. Incriminating cassettes from Eli's childhood.
6. Never more enneagram analysis. Natch.
7. First death metal band EVER played with: Apocalyptic Visions. "The angriest band in America." (unclear exactly what has caused this anger, still...) Six double Marshall Stacks and stories of the drummer getting impaled.
8. Show at Lenny's with tons of Atlanta queers and repping from Atlanta Palestine Solidarity (thanks Rose, and happy birthday, once more...)
10. Lots of veggie food at the Mayor's house after, and discussion about hammock-rigging.
11. Well, lots of eating in Atlanta. And Milledgeville. Good company. Thanks to Miller and Marcy. And Rusty, and Zero, and Henry Jane, who you can wrap up in a carpet like a small burrito for hours of pure contentment and entertainment.

Durham with Chickens

We arrive at Chaz's Bull City Records to be greeted by Chaz, of the same name, who tells us about the beauty of a record store slash performance space, where people come buy and support the shop while sweating between sets. Smart. This is a particularly shvitzy show. We play with America's Next Top Models (fun, over-the-top-patrio-props, lots of energy) and Beloved Binge (rhythmic, unison, counter-harmony, catchy).

We get to Randy's where we find 4 glasses and a bottle of wine in his beautiful wooded house. Heimishe! And a millipede. We go to sleep and awake to walk out to the chicken coop to meet the chickens. They are adorable, pigeoning and darting around and competing for the tortillas we throw them. One has very much to say, the rest just mostly eat. We gather eggs and cook them for breakfast. Randy is clearly a superior photographer: see below: