I choose windows. The glass kind.

You think everything falls apart without you. Really it just changes. This means falls apart, or, maybe, rebuilt stronger.

Speaking of strength, some Reststop Philosophy for you. The three of us were attempting exercise to assuage our guilt or future treat-eating, and stumbled upon these two structures, eye-ball stumble-style.


One is a concrete building without windows, the other a wood barnish building with a few windows. Not to go Three Little Pigs on you here, but I asked Rob which structure would he choose to live in, given that severe weather (like hurricanes and wolves blowing houses down) were probable. He chose the correct answer, which is B., the wood structure. He wants to see out the windows, risk and all. Life choices are very much like this. Complete security is possible, but I'd rather see the storm from my windows. (OK, to take this further, I'd also admit to wanting to build a cellar to hide in, to have the best of both worlds.)


Speaking of, at the beginning of our tour (September - October 2008) we budgeted for fuel being at about $5 a gallon, though it was 'only' about $4 at the time. We and our budget was relieved when fuel dropped to about half that amount. From November onward, gas became:



El Cheapo! I really just wanted a reason to shout this again, as I did much to Mr. Beloved's annoyance whenever we passed these signs.

I was thinking about maturity recently as I was biking home from Whole Foods and some teens did not move out of the way. And then I realized, one-line style, that maturity is the process by which we go from thinking we are the center of the world, to the realization that we are nothing. Or maybe a moon.

As babies/kids our parental figures pay complete attention to us. To some extent, this attention is expected from others as we continue to age. We think we're way more critical than we are. Conversely, too much importance is placed on the opinions of others rather than our own understanding of morality.

All this is leading up to the most important observation that you've certainly noticed: Binge Cafe has grown up and moved to Wordpress and does not know what it is doing. Bear with it/me.*

*(Binge Cafe tried to use Wordpress and failed miserably...I've never met an unfriendlier application. I couldn't even manage separating paragraphs, and upon searching the forums saw this was a common problem. Blech. I'll stick with blogger for now.)

Back in the olden cave-days of Blogger, (sorry poor Blogger!) Binge Cafe left off somewhere in Texas around March. It's late May. Why has Binge been so neglectful of her picture-posting travel-talking? No one knows. Below, Rob captured my intro at a screening hosted by the University of Houston Environmental Club. They supplied vegan cookies, so I supplied love.

In Houston we also screened my film at the University of Houston, Downtown, for the Philosophy Club, and at Rice University for the Environmental Club and Humane Society.

I think strawberry oat pancakes are pretty darned good. I also tried mango but this was not as exciting as anticipated. Though I've been just using water, I find that soy milk tastes a whole lot better. We'll be making these pancakes on the awesome Rockin' the Stove -- stay tuned!

BB played a show at Super Happy Fun Land which makes me want to do a documentary on people who run DIY spaces, except that I want to tour with Seeing Through the Fence until it becomes as outdated as the Brady Bunch, but with less silliness.

We played with our friends Football, etc (formerly Tin Kitchen of NJ) who moved to Houston recently. They also kindly attended my screening at Rice. They're awesome and you should check them out.

Note the vintage BB shirt...warmed our little hearts.

Also on the bill were a band from Brooklyn, whose name has been deleted from the Recycling Bin, brain-style. Dangit, this is becoming a habit. Again, not out of malice. I liked 'em.

The venue folks were so kind that they even let us sleep inside the warehouse.

Which is good cause the over-drinked lipstick lady who kept kissing her dog (evidence below) crashed on the couch.

After Houston we were off to Lafayette, Louisiana to screen the film at the University of Louisiana. Earlier in the day we leafleted there, then headed toward the theater. There was a breathtaking and lifetaking swamp in the middle of campus, which Syba did not swim in.

Probably because of the alligators.

Luckily we lived long enough for Rob to sample a local beer. After Lafayette, we were off to Baton Rouge to screen the film for an environmental group. Louisiana requires that each campus have a piece of artwork. This one, outside, even has Greek writing.

Next we were off to New Orleans. We had not been since 2002 pre-Katrina, and made a short visit to pay our respects to the 9th ward, sad. BB performed at the Dragon's Den, complete with Cafe Bamboo, the only veg restaurant in town.

We played with this nice duo, High in One Eye:

As with many duos, this drummer was awesome...

And not just cause he was borrowing my tom. We were also lucky to meet up with fellow vegan leafleters at our show.

Vic has handed over 55,000 students information about the animals behind most meat/dairy products in Spring semester alone.

In the third installment of meet-ups, we also ran into the Des Ark crew the day after our show, and made time to catch solo-Aimee at another club.

New Orleans is beautifully parked and historied. Rob and I went to City Park and we highly recommend it. We took turns watching Syba while the other of us went to see the sculptures and statues. During Rob's turn, I decided to shoot portraits of Syba, but should have removed her harness to appear more professional.

Above please find her stoic alert pose. Below, find Syba hoping to make some money from the stuffed ambiguous bear or fluffy green man company:

In a separate shooting, these are Syba having "alone time."

Except how I invaded her space to document it.

She also looks fine in a brown hat, no? Anyone?

I like how the shifter look slike a microphone that she's about to announce something into ("Help!")

In any case, back at the sculpture garden, it was full of interesting pieces, but the below was the most striking. The plaque following details more about the artist's intent.

I took this one for mom, who is the most modestly great violinist.

Sorry if these are violas mom. They're definitely not guitars.

Binge Cafe just lives for pictoral juxtapositioning. Here I want to demonstrate the complexity of human-hood, meaning our choices to protect some and eat others. Presenting, a nice sign in a parkish place where we stopped to exercise en route to our next stop:

And next to this sign, another sign:

Conclusion: Turkeys are not Important Birds. This reminds me of an essay I just read, Consider the Lobster by the late David Foster Wallace (thanks to Nicki for the recommendation). In the historical outline of lobster-eating, Wallace noted that eating this creature before the mid 19th century was akin to stuffing a handful of bugs in your mouth. They were plentiful and crawling all over the beaches, and thus thought of as waste, supply n' demand-style. There were some disturbing descriptions of a lobster's ability to feel pain, noting the small hairs within the shell on their soft bodies.

Speaking of turkey, a professor at the next screening we held in Stillwater, OK, at OLE Miss was so kind to us. After joining us for leafleting, she gave us homemade tofurkey wraps:

We also screened the film in another city in Oklahoma. No pictures.

Finally it was Sunday and we were free to relax again. Here is Rob working on a song for you and me.

Syba should have been a fish.

Atlanta has the most amazing coop, Sevenanda (Durham coop take note!) They have a variety of deli options for vegans and lovers of delicious foods (same thing). Most importantly, they have a rotating supply of vegan cakes to ensure Binge keeps on a regular exercise schedule.

The first place we performed in Atlanta:

Life's short. I wouldn't go back there. We were on the bill with four other touring bands. As you might imagine, this did not translate into an audience, apart from the nice bands who stayed, like these guys:

They asked if they could take our coloring book idea, where blank coloring paper and crayons are put upon the merch table for audience use. Of course I said, "You kiddin' me? That's MY thing. MINE!"

The next night, we performed as part of a Star Magazine showcase, set up by the awesome Justin formerly of Elevado, presently of Batata Doce.

The show was a lot of fun, and we hit up the cheap Chinese food place afterword with Justin #2 and got to preview tracks from his new band Glen Iris. (Note! They will be playing at our house as part of our Thank You Party 6/29. You are invited!)

This is completely self-explanatory:

We skipped the cleanse and had some seitan sandwiches instead.

One of the best screenings we had was at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. Before the screening, Rob gives students information on modern factory farms.

Below, heading to the screening. We use the same merch suitcase for BB and the documentary.

And this is me during the Intro, I believe.

There were roughly 100 students there, so the discussion was a lot of fun following.

In the arena of new foodstuffs, I decided to pick up some Laver because it has lots of good things like iron, iodine, B12, and DHA. But also important is the product's edibility.

The results were 50/50. Mr. Beloved reported, "Yuck," while Binge maintains that, when dry-roasted in a cast iron pan, it's just like a chip. A really good chip.

Anyone else cook this stuff? How?

At some point in Georgia we decided to take a break and rent a pedal boat for $5. It was a lot of fun, and I can't believe that Syba actually stayed in the boat. I might say it is a good workout leg-wise. Rob kept stopping just to see if I was pedaling, which, I was. Heavily pedaling, at least 40%. Rob says 20.

We also had a screening in Athens, GA (no pictures) at the University of Georgia. We were happy to arrive back home in Durham for a couple of weeks. In fact, we didn't really feel like going back on the road for the 9th month.

Duofest was a ton of fun and all the duos, I mean all of 'em, I really loved. We were honored to have Mecca Normal, and David of Mecca was kind to do a sketch o'me (he sketches different bands they play with).

Even though we hesitated to leave our porch again, what better way to start road life back up than playing a show on an old farmhouse porch with one of our favorites?

It was wonderful to see the Midtown Dickens again. New songs, crazy harmonies, we love 'em.

BB played next. These pics are courtesy of Michelle's iphone (I-phone?)

The show, complete with vegan cookout, took place at the home of Banjo Bob, who outdoes BB in both 'off kilter' and 'quirky.' He's awesome. We have his Apples & Oranges album, and lemme tell you, the songs will break into your headspace and cross the monkey bars.

Rob's photo. And his book.

We did some leafleting around the DC/Maryland area, and Delaware, then were off to New York, after a quick stop in Phili to get the infamous Vegan Treats cake at GoVindas. You should have seen the look of disappointment on my face when I saw the empty cake case -- coulda sank 1,000 ships. Luckily the vegan philly seitan steaks made up for this, 40%.

New York was our next stop. I attended a Farm Sanctuary meeting then debate. Jasmin, who runs the NY action, is one of my favorite peoples. The debate was something to the effect of, "Should we exploit animals less?" and if you can imagine, there was an opposing position, answering "No." The moderator, who had declared himself neutral (or been declared neutral) later admitted he was one of those people who would not care if someone kicked a dog in front of him (as an example of caring about suffering when it is right in front of you and/or when the animal is a 'member' of the family). Jasmin did a great job of summarizing parts of the debate and afterthoughts on her blog Making Hay.

It's interesting to drive in NYC. You're prepared for the worst, so when you're actually there it isn't as bad as you'd imagined. You do find parking. You do get lost and go over a bridge that puts you back in Manhattan when you were needing to stay in Brooklyn. But somehow, if Weston does not stall, you get to your destination with minimal stress and yelling/honking, and a feeling of accomplishment, like graduating.

My favorite contrast to the streets of NYC is the people-made Central Park. Instead of opting for the $8/hour parking in the park, we lucked out and found a FREE spot across the street with no restrictions except to be out of it 10 days later. I was so happy that I thought we should stay there forever, or at least 10 days.

The only downside of our Central Park visit was an unfortunate live exercise program event blasting the workout throughout the park -- "One, two, YOU CAN DO IT! Come on now, UP, UP, down, UP!" complete with breathy gasps for air and bad music that makes you (me) run away which is why it is effective for exercise.

In the park, finally away from the noise, we found a castle that was built for weather reporting, and took turns being king/queen. I present you Rob the King, overseeing his people.

And a view from the Castle:

After the park, and before the show, we (I) had a very important mission, mission cake. New York is just bursting with vegan cake, or so it seemed. We limited our selections to those within walking distance (1-2 miles) of Central Park. I was hoping to find my favorite, which we'd missed in Philly (Vegan Treats. Could it be a coincidence that they are based out of a city entitled Bethlehem?) Admittedly, I had high expectations:

Photo from Vegan Treats, http://www.myspace.com/vegantreats

So it was with some disappointment, expressed fully after finishing the cupcakes within 10 seconds, that I instead found these tiny overpriced things:

In a desperate move later that day, I bought this slice of cheap(er) cake at a coop later that day:

To summarize, it looked better than it was. The frosting was wonderful, but the cake part was a little dry. But 10 stars for generous frosting.

After getting lost, only slightly, we were able to find time to eat at one of our favorites, Food Swings, in Brooklyn. I had the fish sticks, and Rob made the seitan sub disappear. We also had the Buffalo strips on sticks with a ranch dressing. All vegan! (Do I need to qualify that anymore?)

Finally it was show time and we made it to Goodbye Blue Mondays.

This is a cozy little club snugged under a subway line. We played there last tour and they're super nice. I forgot my camera and the owner mailed it back. BB was added to the bill somewhat late, so we opened up the night. We were happy that a member of the band we played with when we first moved to Durham (at the Wetlands! RIP) the Lost Patrol came out to see our show.

After us, a fabulous lady & her banjo played a set, Chelsea McBee.

A train went by during her song about a train. Next, the nice Key of V performed. A duo, so automatically of course they are on our good list(s). Besides that, they were good.

I took this shot while waiting for my laptop to boot up. It never did.

Tip: Do not purchase an HP TX1000 series laptop. I'm trying to resolve the issue with the BBB. Meanwhile, I got a similar little netbook to my friend Aquavino, and I love it! Mine is an ASUS.

After NY, we made our way to a State Park for camping purposes....

...I think I need a new sweater.

Next it was over to Boston to screen for the Veg Society, a very kind group of folks, I'll say.

The room extended to the right too, where the other half of the audience sat, by the buffet. We stayed with a vegan family restoring their Victorian home. The house had beautiful woodwork and tall windows, a spiraling staircase, and pocket doors. Syba loved it too because they had a dog and a stuffed bunny she proceeded to de-ear. She also left her green ambiguous Bear there, perhaps as an apology for the rabbit.

After Boston, Weston began practicing defiance again, this time by stalling. He chose several convenient places:

• Shopping complex exit, at the light;
  
• Middle of busy intersection going up a hill with fast oncoming traffic;
• On-ramp to Mass Pike ("Folks, the trucks can't get by you...you're going to have to move.")
  
• Highway ("I'll help you folks pull over to the breakdown lane...");
  
• Dark alley;
  
• Another intersection ("ID and registration, please.")

All these were spread over the course of a day, during our futile attempts to get to Hanover, New Hampshire, for my Dartmouth screening. Luckily, we finally made it to a cold rest area close to Hanover. Since, Weston sort of sounds like he has a cold (swine flu?) and has continued to intermittently stall. But boy, can his top sure pop!


At Dartmouth, all this trauma was mitigated by the baking of vegan cupcakes by one of the students.




They also ordered Indian food for the audience, some of whom were lined up before the screening.

A reporter was there and interviewed me then published the article here in the Dartmouth Free Press. We also leafleted the school.

After, we barely made it to the Lebanon Food Coop, one of the most overpriced I've seen. Some say that all coops are overpriced, but this is not true from our coop experiences across these plains and mountains (the US). On average, we eat for about $2.50 a meal each.

We headed to Rob's hometown of Enfield CT, arriving the next day at his cousin's home. With the next picture, I wanted to illustrate that though Syba actively avoids Weston, while we were visiting outside she had the choice of either hanging out in Weston or Rob's cousin's grassily wooded back yard, and she chose the latter entirely on her own (see below right, behind cousin):

She later moved to the driver's side, where it was much more comfortable to squeeze between the clutch, break, and gas pedals. Before I continue to make fun of Syba, you might wonder why *we* were all hanging out in Weston instead of on lawn chairs by the firepit. I'll refer you to Rob for his response.

A couple people recommended Danbury, so off we went to our show there at Cousin Larry's Cafe. Met a kind blogger there who runs the Hat City Blog and bought a couple of our CDs. He told us about the history of the town, where hats to Danbury were like tobacco to Durham.

Our next stop has become a tradition of sorts when we're in this area, and it is one of our favorites because we get to meet up with the folks who run Vegan Radio (see Scott & Derek below) and eat at Cafe Evolution (also below).

We made it to Northampton and enjoyed Oh Sweet Mama's baked goods.

OK, so I ate a bite pre-photo. Later that afternoon, we took a trip with Derek of Vegan Radio....

...whereby Weston displayed the non-glamourous side of touring and stalled on the busy arterial. Derek and I got out and pushed Weston's backside, hot from the sun like a griddle, so we kept removing our hands to avoid burns and pancake-hands.

We decided to park next to our show location at the Sierra Grille and then bus or taxi to the radio station. Once up, you can hear the podcast at: http://veganradio.com/. For now, you can listen to their archives. They've asked us to create a theme song...this would be our 3rd theme song creation I think (Tech Notes Radio & Endangered Durham were the other two) so we're very happy to continue on in this business.

The show at the Sierra Grille was one of our best in awhile. The kind folks that book the place give bands a free dinner at 7:30 pm. We were on the radio and missed this, but they have plenty of vegan options reportedly, which is good since I believe the other bands were vegan as well. We played first (there are some great photos taken by Derek here). Have I already mentioned that Derek is an amazing photographer? Yep. He's also taken many of the pictures you see in leaflets of farm animals at Farm Sanctuary and elsewhere.

After BB, Vio/Mire played, solo though:

Then it was Aaron B and the True Believers:

They were a lot of fun and I told them all to check out the musicians on Trekky Records as they might be cousins, first or second.

We also met Eric Gaffney (of Sebadoh!) who was at the show and signed our mailing list. His more recent project is Fields of Gaffney. If this wasn't enough, he's either vegetarian or vegan...

Speaking of bands who 'make it,' Rob and I were talking about a band we met on tour who we have been trying to contact about a show in their town. Despite several emails to this band, we had not heard back. Since they seemed very enthused about helping us out before, I was stumped. “Oh, they're busy,” Rob said. “Recording, and I heard they just got signed to a label.”

It seems to me that bands are like orphans at a very noisy orphanage, waiting, trying to look pretty, to sound nice, to be adopted by a label. Or a fan base. Or you. Once a band is adopted, their departure is viewed with some degree of envy, but also joy that it is possible (if that's what we want...and to some extent, that's what we all want – validation).

Maybe we're all seeking adoption, whether it be for work or friendship. To what extent an image inconsistent with our true character is projected for the sake of survival, or a good life, is unclear to me. The ultimate impact of rejection is also unclear. Possibly we adapt or completely drop out. But certainly we change.

The actual adoption has an impact as well. Once accepted our maturity can again be assessed by how we react to our fortunes. My favorite people are those who become greater after adoption, in character and spirit. Rather than accepting exclusive membership in the now available 'higher' class, they remain members of all societies.

I'd just like to insert here, and perhaps I've said this before, that I feel most at home with musicians. Not all musicians, but the majority. Something like a family feeling, which I get with certain vegans too. And Greeks! Don't forget the Greeks.

After the show were were hoping Weston would take us all the way to Providence, RI. He did, pictures forthcoming. For now, I leave you with a love letter found at the Providence Whole Foods market, where they write, "Vegan Options!" on their deli case, in which I found this little happy friend, just waiting for me to adopt it.

PS: Some readers were having trouble with my last post, "We're Gaining Weight, that means Growing." That is, the first picture would show up, but the words were from my previous blog post rather than that one. It obviously worked fine for some people who made comments relating to the recent post, but not others -- in fact, I tried accessing it on a computer here and had the same issue. Perhaps this is a browser problem? But the previous posts all worked. Hmm. In any case, let me know if you have any issues.

Important PSS: The ruling yesterday in California broke my heart. But you can lend some support here: http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/1million

We're Gaining Weight. That Means Growing.

I have to imagine this is what newcomers fell in love with when they arrived after the harrowing trip West to discover California. This is the California I imagine them seeing. Who wouldn't want to stay? On our way out, though, I was very happy to be leaving the modern realities of connecting points a and b, car-style:

Before we left LA, I got a chance to connect with more family, here with Zache, my first cousin.

When we were kids, I, the elder cousin, told him “I wish you'd drown!” while in my aunt's swimming pool. That wasn't nice.

I wish Syba was this enthusiastic to tour. Our last night in LA we were fortunate to play a house party thrown by none other than the former NC troupe known as Casey of Sweater Weather. I say troupe due to the number of attendees who migrated from NC as well as their shared chosen studies of film/television.

Playing the show with us, his first show actually, was the nice man pictured below. He was naturally good and we were very happy to meet him.

We played without mics, and though I have said that I fired Acoustic Binge, this was a compromise because I still got to play my kit...just really, really quiet. I wish I had one of those voices that belted out like an uncontrollable force of nature when I'm NOT mad, that is, when I'm singing. But alas. It's a good test of a song to unplug it, anyhow.

We really enjoyed Casey and Curt's set too.

They played a somewhat last-minute put together thematic arrangement of songs about Friday the 13^th, which was coming out soon. The songs were clever, and though silly, they had weight too. Could have been the depth of the vocals and strength of the melodies. I'm hoping they keep writing material together. Check out Casey's project here. He's touring all 'round so go and see him when he's in your neighborhood.

I bought a vegan cake for the occasion. I was a little skeptical because it was 'sugar free.' I'm careful particularly when I bring a cake to a party where people may never have tried vegan cake before. One bad cake and we're history. Luckily, it was so delicious and the frosting melted as you bit through the moist body of the cake.

I wanted to take it 'to go' but thought that would be rude since I brought it as a present. Luckily #2, other people are discovering the joy o' vegan baking, as published in the NY Times Magazine, cover here:

(Picture from NY Times Magazine article referenced below)

With the unfortunate exception of a couple of statements, this is a pretty good article.

Speaking o' environmental things, there were miles of windmills on the way from LA to Prescott. Anyone know what they are powering? Me neither.

Since we're gone for so long it is impossible for us to cram in shows and screenings every day, both from a booking standpoint and from one of exhaustion. This space provides time to experience an area (when we're not working in libraries) and minimizes long drives.

We make sure to rest and let Syba run around and Rob do push ups. Actually, I think that Syba is kind of showing off how push-ups are pretty lame compared to the moves she can do without (formal) yoga training.

To our delight, even way out in the middle of nowhere, we spotted this "Smoothies and Veggie Burgers" truck:

Unfortunately, we noticed this after we were already full with a Subway veggie delight, vegan-style, soy chorizo added in.

I have another question for my North Carolinian friends. (For those counting, this makes my second question/demand. The other was requesting vegan taquitos at our new co-op.)

I love the idea of minimizing expenese and of course travel by growing fruit. On trips to California as a kid, it always seemed so exotic that you could grow your own lemons and oranges. I remember the lemons falling down next to the pool at my aunt's house (yes, the pool that I wished drowning upon my poor cousin).

Citrus fruit just grows in California, like dandilions. They're delicious. Can we make this happen in Durham? Or is it too cold in the winter? Can someone plant a citrus tree in our yard?

We had to get to Prescott, Arizona the next morning to appear on television. Since this was big-time, you know, television (does anyone still watch morning talk show television? I mean, anyone I hang out with?) we were a bit worried that Weston would do something silly, and we would not get there, but instead another worry presented itself:

I was a bit incredulous at first, not really believing it ... snow? I thought this business was finished back in Seattle. Isn't this the desert? The roads were clear, and Prescott was only cold, not snowed in, so we were relieved to arrive without incident.

We'd lost an hour so it was extra-hard to wake up for an 8:00 am arrival. I never fail myself in one consistent way: if I know I have to wake up early, I cannot, for the life of me, fall asleep the night prior. Hearing Rob and Syba snore doesn't help.

We set up very early.

Here our hosts prepare their notes for the talkshow.

Despite a few pre-on-air questions, the male host still referred to my documentary as a “Socialist take on vayganizm.” That's “sociological,” but I'm guessing the viewers might not notice. I did learn things to cook for my valentine. To my surprise, since this seemed like a relatively conservative show, they highlighted some Morningstar sausages. Morningstar is not very vegan-friendly, but recently (after a campaign) agreed to use one million less eggs.

We were treated well, and Syba even got to roam the studio. I was worried she'd do something uncharacteristic like take a large dump by the hosts, or spew on their shined shoes, but she was very well-behaved.

She wore her “Vegan Outreach” t-shirt while on air. She did not field any questions. If she were asked, I'm sure she would say: "I hate the van. My captors seem to think a few visits to the dog park will change this. And what is with the t-shirt? Hello, fur! Don't get me started on my food..."

The hosts asked us a few questions about the documentary and our band, then we played a couple of songs. I believe we chose “Miso...I don't like people” and “Unification of + and -.” I'm thinking that these were probably not songs for our TV morning audience but we had a lot of fun.

After the show, we were hoping to get a copy of the segment we performed on, but they charge $25. This is the difference between DIY and large companies, in many cases. I would think the DVD (or even electronic file) would be free to the performers since we are, in theory, helping them fill out the show, but then conversely, it might be said that we received promotion for free, and should shut up and drive away in our Weston quite contented. But I'm too Greek to do that. So I stewed. Stew with Gimme Lean and large chunks of soft carrots.

Later that day, we went to the local library to work. Here's Weston from the window.

As you can see, it had started to snow in Prescott.

A few hours later, I recognized the significance of the snowball effect, so to speak...Rob in the parking lot heading Weston-ward:

Now we were in a blizzard, the kind they had in that Little House episode where the whole family was snowed in for Christmas.

Where, to leave the cabin, they had to open the upstairs window and walk on the ten feet of snow. Except we were in Weston, and had a show and screening to get to. In a Darwinian moment, we decided to walk to the shop first without proper winter attire.

Syba rolling in the snow, a) to cool off (it's refreshing), b) no idea.

Fingers frozen, Rob put on the chains and we set off to the Catalyst Infoshop to see if we were still screening and showing. Here is the little shop, snow bound on Art Row:

We were welcomed to the vegan kitchen (Food Not Bombs cooks there as well) and fried up some seitan I'd made the day before. They had a nice kettle of food for us, and we hung around the little info shop. I wasn't really feeling like hauling in our gear through the storm, so luckily I only screened the documentary that night. It was quite heatless in the shop, but a few spaceheaters helped warm up the screening room, and blow a fuse.

Following the discussion we all sat around the living room and discussed whether or not purity was possible (uh-uh), strategic activism, and other matters. Met an interesting lady who photographs a traveling circus performance troupe, who had just performed at the next venue we'd be visiting:

The Trunk Space, in Phoenix, AZ. We left the night of the screening, despite the snow piling down, and barely made it. Even on the interstate the snow persisted, and we were only able to remove Weston's chains after about an hour of driving. Thankfully, the snow eventually subsided as we drove out of the mountains. At the Trunk Space we performed with Skinwalkers:

A lively floor-crawling type of band where you're kind of afraid, as an audience member, that the singer/guitarist is going to knock you over or slam you with the neck of his guitar (accidentally on purpose). We loved his songs and the megaphone added a spice like that smoked paprika I need to find.

Next were the coincidentally vegan band Somersault. Nice folks. Rob was sad they did not play his favorite watermelon song.

We spent a lot of time in Tempe. It's definitely a college town, with a university the population of a small city (50K I believe). Climbed up the “A” mountain and saw a few spiral petraglyphs. Since a sign said that many of the rocks were defaced, I was not certain which were authentic petraglyphs and which were college graffitti. I suppose it does not matter, only time separates them. That said, what the &?!@#$? are people thinking when they mess up ancient communications / art that can never be recreated again?

I screened my film next to one of the better vegan restaurants, Green. Do not let the uninspired name fool you. These people have options. For instance, here lies the chalkboard list of the various soy-namis (aka blizzards) you can decide upon:

One must mathematically break the choices down like a story problem to make the appropriate decision. For instance, as our friend Dawn asks herself, “Is this something I can make at home?” The flowchart, if pointed to “Yes,” would indicate that you absolutely should NOT choose that flavor. If “No,” then it is exotic and you should consider it. Unless you're allergic.

Here's Rob displaying our soy-namis. He chose peanut butter (and apparently did not follow the flow-chart) while I selected some butterscotchy type of concoction.

They were kind enough to advertise for the screening. In fact I was kind of nervous because the place was packed with people who were eating at Green then heading over to Acme for the screening. We had to delay the start time while they finished eating.

This was a fun screening, and also a very rambunctious one where I was less in charge than usual: Syba, along with the owner's dogs, decided to play chase through the audience. I admit, it was cute. Way cuter than the intro I was attempting to give.

At the end, two people who had not seen the film came in and thought they would ask questions anyway, with a polite preface, of course: “I did not SEE the documentary, but ...” Tip to people who do this: Don't. I mean, come in, enjoy the Q&A, but don't ask questions. Unless you want to ask, “Eleni, do you want a large slice of vegan cake?” Or, “Would you like to try this new soy ice cream flavor, malted milk-ball?” (Can someone invent a vegan malted milk ball already? Please?)

In any case, this was a fun screening as it was full o' nice people and we had some great discussions about something I and many care about deeply...the plight of animals used for food. Check out Acme for your AR t-shirt needs!

Or to play “Rampage.”

The nice, nice folks that set this up are hosting another screening without me on 4/3, if'n your near Phoenix, AZ.

It was time to leave Tempe and head to Tucson, a town Rob and I considered moving to back in 2002 when we last went through.

Syba broke the sliding door screen a month or so ago to make this possible.

We were happy to meet Anne and Matt of Vegan Outreach in Tucson, at a vegan restaurant called “Lovin' Spoonfulls.” One word: delicious. I had some sort of sandwichy not-chicken thing if I recall correctly. Two more words: Vegan Cake. The white frosting flavor was the best.

It was awesome to meet two of the people who made VO possible, kind of like meeting Obama in the vegan world. We also met Jack in California, the co-founder, President, and nutrition guru, and many fellow-leafleters, which has been better than peanut butter cups.

Speaking of, Rob leafleted at the University of Tucson, and the Gawds of vegan goodness gave him a few of these!

Syba wanted to share with us, but was not allowed, and displayed her dismay thus-wise (look closely now):

That night we played a show at the HangArt, a nifty space that is not an airplane hanger but looks and feels like one. We played with the Monitors:

and H is for Hellgate (Seattle):

and Logan Greene and the Bricks!

We started carrying around a coloring pad & crayons to our shows. We say it is so the audience can have fun and color all sorts of pictures. It's really because we want to have drawings of us like this.

Some more feedlots...this huge one in Texas I believe, which stretched for miles.

In Texas, I screened my film for the El Paso Veg Society. My grandfather, Richard Davis, was raised in this town. I'm thinking it was a lot different in the early 20^th century. As my mom put it when she received my “El Paso” post card, “Looks like a boring city.” And this considering I tried to pick out the most interesting postcard, to highlight the excitement and vibrancy of the place.

The President of the Society ensured there was a great selection of vegan food for the event, and it was delicious. Here's my intro or outro:

The next day we struggled in vain to find a park nearby, and finally gave up to hang out at the State Park. There was not much vegetation vegetating, but that's probably because this is the desert.

Lucky for us, though the town did not seem to have a lot to offer, we met some nice Veg Society folk (including the President of the Veg Society) and appeared on their radio program which you can hear here:

Instead of the State Park, we should have just gone to this reststop, on the way out of El Paso toward New Mexico:

Complete with monster pineapple.

Weston had been making some noises, so we took him into a VW expert in Santa Fe. One of his noices was a flapping sound, which the mechanics said they fixed by tightening down the mud flap. We later learned (at another VW shop) it was actually the rear axle that needed a new boot. But here in Santa Fe, we got Weston's point system reinstalled (history: the original points were changed to another system then back already once).

While Weston was in the shop we walked around town and bought some overpriced vegan food. Later that night, we played at Backstreet Pizza. This was a show where we were supposed to be quiet: in fact, it was emphasized that the owner was worried we'd be too loud so we couldn't have the show unless we agreed to keep it low. So I played with my hotrods. For some reason it's hard as the drummer to play quiet and enjoy playing. The purist in me thinks this should not be the case, that playing lightly and dynamically is more difficult blah blah etc. But it's no fun and makes Acoustic Binge angry.

After we finished our set, one of the employees asked if he could play my kit. When I gave him the hot rods, he said, “oh, no, regular sticks,” and proceeded to pound the drums. Acoustic Binge very angry!

Speaking o' instruments, my first cousin twice removed (uncle) Steve is a guitar builder. He built Rob's guitar, the wood-finish one. Above are two of his projects. Like any artist, he also customizes messages depending on his customer:

Which are you?

Here he is in action. I have never seen a cleaner shop. This is the shop I remind Rob of when we're home and cannot find a tool. “What about uncle Steve's shop?” I challenge, as an ideal we can maybe obtain someday.

We had an awesome time visiting Steve and Robin (and their dog Arlo) in Albuquerque, NM. They came to my screening at the U of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and we walked around the desert the next day, pictured above.

The night before, I was lucky to discover vegan chocolate Raspberry cake at the local co-op. Though I had sworn off cake, it's not always that one stumbles upon vegan cake, and one owes it to the Vegan Movement to test and report on all of its cakes. This one was amply supplied with frosting.

It is a debt my hips continue to pay, but a little exercisin' and heck.

Our show at Burt's was pretty fun....the first band (screamo-style?):

attracted a lot of fans, who left, before and during our set:

But it was worth it to meet the nice guys in Flood the Sun. They'll be touring soon West Coast-style so check 'em out.

We set off the next day for Amarillo, Texas, where we got a last-minute show. The day before, on Sunday, we were absolutely unable to find a NY Times paper. We desparately checked Starbucks after Starbucks, and a few bookstores. They all reported that the distributor has not sent them any for months, and so we were out of luck. I even found an old NY Times in Weston and called a number to ask where we could find a copy. The security guard on the other end had no idea, and the number he gave me did not work.

And so we settled in and did some scrapbooking, or grass-rollowing, if you were Syba.

You might think it odd that I want the paper so badly. What about an old-fashioned book? I love books. But I love the Sunday escape of no responsibility and no-anything that the paper allows. The book review, the magazine with the ethics questions and crosswords, the Style section with “Modern Love,” column. The arts section, the national and international news, even the Business section.

Last week I was reading an article about Facebook, where the writer wondered if folks could ever plan the future when they were living so wholly in the present (aka Twitter updates).

In any case, part of this fascination with the paper has to do with this taste I've developed for the idea of living in NY. I don't mean leaving Durham. I don't think we'll ever do that. But I don't want to die never having lived in NY. The question is only how and when, and how much time.

Back in Amarillo, there is ONE cool place that you do not want to miss if you're passing through the dry, dusty panhandle.

And that's the 806 Coffeehouse, recommended to me by a student. We contacted them last-minute and they set up a show for us. I can't understate how kindly they treated us, and they even have 'vegan' listed on the menu. This is a place where the outsiders go, us. We loved it. (Apparently Amarillo has some pretty conservative folks, so when they dressed a manaquin in an Obama t-shirt, some customers complained. The 806 is also listed on a conservative Christian website as one of the bad, devilish sort of places in town due to a Pagan meeting that happens to occur there. This only excited the Binges further!)

After the show we went out for drinks at a local bar and then Syba got some treats from the nice, nice 806 folks:

Syba's pagan so she doesn't care about the reputation. It's all about the bagel.

One thing about Texas, besides everything being big (this is true) is that there's some real pride in the state. Such as these grills, found at one rest stop:

I'm certain that many a veggie burger has been flipped on this grill.

We passed through the dry panhandle of Texas into the dry Oklahoma panhandle. Signs of Route 66 (touristy) were everywhere, and we succommed to the pressure and interest in our history eventually. First we stopped at the museum in a small town, but found it was closed.

A man with a cowboy hat on came up to us, saying they close in the winter to save electricty. He said the town was small, stood firmly, then concluded, “and we like it that way.” We left, but not before capturing this:

Not the same man. This is first in a series of really funny dummies (ala the Tobacco Museum talking dummy in Durham, except not the talking).

We found the real Route 66 museum, which was a huge disappointment and waste of time, except for that it quelled the possible regret we might have felt at NOT visiting it.

The fake town was lively:

As was the fake green grass:

This is the first we saw of the Oklahoma practice of painting brown grass green.

After several inquiries, we learned that this green spray was not aesthetic but FERTILIZER or PESTICIDE. It's green so you can see where it's been done.

Rob said that this lady reminded him of the mother in Psycho:

And here is her stove, fer cooking:

And now, presenting, not in order of significance, some townspeople:

Hans the Accountant,

Cliff the Postman, and,

Fritz the newspaperman.

These were the highlights. We didn't pay the full amount so windows stood between us and our friendship with the community.

Inside the museum, for the paid leg of our experience, a few shiny old cars were parked, along with annoying commentary playing without being asked. There were virtually no actual articles from Route 66, except a piece of cement, that was about as interesting as a clipped toenail from a nail salon.

But do go visit Hans, Cliff, and Fritz. They're kinda lonely.

Almost as much as rolling in snow, goose poop, or a dead being, Syba loves the leaves.

Had some screenings in Oklahoma, then onward to Arlington, TX, where I screened for the Environmental Society:

This one was a lot of fun, as there was a room change and it was so packed students had to sit on the floor. Also met a professor whose dissertation was on the units of measurements in the ancient world, which he gave in Crete. We exchanged some Greekities.

Shortly thereafter we discovered that Weston's flap was not the noise we'd heard. These nice V-DUB folks fixed him up good and we even bought a new window-roller-thingy cheap so that I could again roll my window up and down to ask for directions or get fresh air.

Still haven't fixed the clutch, which was reported to be on its last clutch-legs in Santa Fe. We totally believe that, due to some observed behaviors of the pedal, such as it not working every 5th time, but we're trying to avoid the $600 for as long as possible.

While Weston was repaired, Rob and Syba waited outside the library for it to open. Surprisingly, Syba was able to go inside with us, in the foyer area. If you bring her in with authority, and a touch of looking like you need a guide dog, it's a no-fail endeavor. More on that in my next blog.

This has no matching picture, unfortunately, but on the border of Irving and Dallas, there is a most excellent Korean buffet, all vegan. Try it out if you're in the area. BUT, after a screening at Texas Christian U, the professor heartily recommended this place:

Which I would 2^nd. The vegan cake was most delicious:

(again, for the Movement), as was the Seitan Philly:

The shake was equally great, according to Rob, who tried to make it look like I ate it by taking this picture,

When really, I only spilled it:

(in the shape of a jack-in-the-box clown-head).

It's true that the birds fly south.

In Fort Worth, we played at a DIY space called 1919 Hemphill, then screened my documentary.

Rob took that last picture. Also on the bill were Zwounds:

and Smitten Kittens:

I was very happy to meet a fellow-leafleter that Rob and I (mostly Rob) leafleted with in this area. She and her husband came out to the show and screening as well which was awesome.

At this show we met a professor who has Synesthesia so he sees sounds and hears colors. He drew a picture while we were playing, and later told us about the reason Mandarin evolved to have very similar sounding words with vary disparate meanings.

After this night we headed to Austin. It was about a week before SXSW, so not crazy yet. I'd still like to participate in SXSW, but thought we would have to be on a label to get a showcase, even if this isn't stated. Some locals told me we should play it, and didn't need to be affiliated with a label. I'm not into the hype surrounding much-publicized events...I prefer to find sneaky cool things that no one knows about but a small community. But again, as with living in NY, I think it would be interesting to experience. Just so I can say that it sucked with authority. Or quite possibly, and most likely, the opposite.

“Hi, How Are You?” Have you seen the documentary, the Devil & Daniel Johnston? It's really good.

There was a great wifi cafe with vegan food and an outdoor yard to sit in complete with Syba, the Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse. Rob and I worked there most of the day and night from 3 pm till 10 or so, and routed the NE portion of our tour. It took awhile because I needed to figure out which universities would still be open so we could priorize them on our route.

Here are some more suggestions for veg food in Austin: http://vegoutaustin.com/archives/2009/03/vegetarian-vegan-sxsw.html

Also screened at University of Texas, Austin. Nice campus with large trees. We'd been in the desert so long (a month) that it was a relief to see some vegetation. I think this is still the desert. But more greenery.

Has anyone heard of trumpet mushrooms? I saw these for cheap at the coop, and bought them immediately for a new-myo experience.

I stir-fried them in olive oil, salt, and garlic. They were pretty boring and bland. Shitakkes are much tastier. Perhaps I did something wrong, and didn't bring out their true potential? I say this because at a subsequent store they were priced at about $35 per pound...pretty steep compared with the average portobello ($5-10) or shitakke ($7 – 14).

Before we left Austin we played a show at the very manly Headhunters Club.

I do not call something manly lightly. Disagree with me if you will, but here's why this club qualified:

• Pro-wrestling played simultaneously on multiple televison sets;

• Patrons and employees grunted and shouted at said sets;

• When I asked for the merch table, the bartender said, “I'll get a strong man to carry it down for you, it's heavy!”

• I was one of maybe three women there the entire night;

• Um, 'Headhunters' I think were/are men?

In any case, none of this mattered to me when I saw the joy on Robey's face when he realized that the sound man was his childhood hero:

Do you recognize him? Me neither, but apparently Rob played this man's album over and over again 1,000 times back in the day. He was the singer for SOD (Storm Troopers of Death). To top it off, he recently went vegetarian and was very interested in recipes and other information.

I just did a quick wiki-search and must offer preemptive defense on behalf of Young Rob (YR), who did not embrace the message of the lyrics but liked the guitarwork. Rob is most welcoming and does not believe English is necessary, particularly to be enforced by death, but rather, was attracted to the Star-Wars reference in the band name. I have made this defense up without discussing at all with client Rob (or YR), but it is based on solid evidence including a Star Wars VCR tapes collection worn through by repeated viewings. Defense # 2 is: Guns n' Roses. I think a lot of folks -- maybe even you?! -- listened to ol' Axl and some of his lyrical commentary BITD. As Joe Elliot of Def Leppard said, "it's not the WORDS, it's how they sound..." To think they were my favorite band.

There were five bands on the bill the SOD sound night, which made things very quick-quick-and rushy. We played with this band from San Fran:

and this band Human Circuit from Austin, who I will think will go to places in the sky:

Listen to "Donkey Show." Besides, they were super nice and good to us.

Next we headed off to Houston, to be reported in the next blog.

For now, I wanted to share with you an article about the brain. I found it after I heard the story on NPR. Basically, the study finds there is a genetic componant to IQ, *however,* the brain can do push-ups and even excel as we age (rather than decline, as often thought). Looky here:

"The wires between the brain cells, the connections, are the things that you can modify throughout life," he says. "They change and they improve through your 40s and 50s and 60s." --From "Smart People Really Do Think Faster"

So maybe I'll remember things better in my next decade. For now, I'm working on, as the article suggests, doing mental jumping jacks via crosswords and more Greek-language learning.

Eleni

PS - I updated the BB site for now: www.belovedbinge.com. Adam's design was WAY better but I messed it up due to not understanding how to update new fangled style-sheets. Or some other non-HTML format. So for now, it's HTML 4, baby!

PPS - We're gonna be back for a couple week to play Duofest III! 4/18! Awesome duos! Schedule should be posted here soon -- DUOFEST III.