GIG 15::::::: WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

Marjorie Fair — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 23:05:20 -0000

Waking up in a resort on the coast of southern Florida overlooking the water is about 100 times better than waking to a rolling, recycled air capsule that smells like oily boys. We have nothing to complain about today; the sun is shining and the air is fresh and moving outside our oceanside-view hotel rooms. We all swam in the warm ocean for a while; the water was so clear and blue. We’re all used to the Pacific (which is not this warm or clear where we live). We putzed around the resort a little more and made our way to the local electronics warehouse discount place to buy a new camera and some more memory. It was called Brandsmart U.S.A. It is a very brightly light superstore that basically looks like a circular casino with tons of fluorescent painted signs everywhere and merchandise covering every direction. They did have amazingly low prices, I’ll admit, but the staff had the worst attitudes I’ve experienced outside of a DMV. We’d say “hi” to clerks and they’d just stare back at us in silence. After we made our purchase, we had to go outside to the loading dock to pick up the camera. Their system basically is having customers walk to the side of the building to the loading docks which are about four feet high and giving the receipt to any worker who feels like paying attention. Then you stand around under the dock in a disorganized crowd waiting in the hot sun for your purchase to arrive while multiple workers and security guards stare down at you in lazy dismay. Okay, I complained a little bit.
Anyway, we got the goods eventually and made our way to the venue which was at a fairgrounds. The amphitheater was nestled between parking lots and old amusement park rides. Our dressing room was a huge mobile home with three empty bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and big “living room” that all smelled like mold. In all the closets were these hanging mold catchers, but apparently they didn’t work. We lit candles and incense, opened windows and turned on fans to make it smell better. I guess our efforts paid off a bit because we stayed in there and hung out. We were happy to be playing today’s show.
We were pretty relaxed from the pampering even though the hotel turned off all its electricity at 9 a.m. This was the second to last show on the tour and I think we were all trying to savor what we could. In the back of the amphitheater, lining the end of the lawn, there were a row of palm trees; it seemed appropriate to our location. Just a small thing to remind us we were in Florida. A friendly reminder at that. We had a great show. It was a similar set list to our others, but we decided on it very casually and that’s what is important. We got to hang out with some of the fellow musicians after the show. Tim, the bass and guitar backup vocal extraordinaire, had an idea of having all of us up during Sheryl’s set to play a song together. He said he’d talk to the rest of the band about it, but he had no idea. We’ll see. For the time being, we are having fun listening to music and hanging out with our booking agent (who flew in from NYC to see the show) in our incense-filled, candle-scented moldy mobile home. We all had fun tonight. Florida has been good to us.

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