No Snow in South Carolina! Snowbird'n Post #1.

View from BB's back door, 1/31. Note Beloved's woodpile.

Beloved and Binge fled through the iced Governor-warned-us-not-to-drive roads on the morn of February 1st, heading to Columbia, SC to screen Seeing Through the Fence for a Politics in Film course at the University of South Carolina.

The class was full, about 90 students in attendance. When I asked if any of them were vegetarian or vegan, only one or two hands went up. We played the film, then I hosted a discussion afterward for about an hour. There were many questions about health, economics, and even a new one, which was: "What about greyhound and horse racing?"

As always, it was an amazing experience talking about this issue with a large group of people who had possibly not had much exposure to the issue. Particularly critical when investigations keep coming out such as this one conducted by Mercy for Animals at a NY dairy farm. (This was on CNN, too.) Sometimes folks ask why we don't eat dairy products. This question is answered with a look at this video...the CNN one is less graphic, but both are informative.

Rob is in charge of picture-taking at the screenings, but I distracted him with statistics-writing (as in, how many veg students?) so there are no visuals during the class screening. Picture tiered rows upon rows in a lecture hall. However, later that night (about one hour after the Q&A finished) I held a screening for the environmental group SAGE at the Green Quad for about 30 people.


The next day, Rob and I leafleted the school for Adopt a College and handed out free primal strips (courtesy Vegfund.org).

One for you, two for me.

While leafleting, a student came up to me and said he really liked the film and told all of his friends about it, which was very nice, since I'm never certain of the response unless I hear direct feedback.


Syba helped too.

Speaking of the screenings, it's always inspiring both to meet instructors and students who are engaged in some form of activism outside of their own interest. In other words, in addition to self-improvement, they are reaching out to frost the world, if the world were a vegan cupcake, with even more frosting.

So many cupcakes and only one stomach.

After today, I do believe in the Vegan Cupcake God(dess). On our way to a wifi location, we happened upon an Earthfare grocery store. That was VCG's first act of kindness to us. Second, when I stopped at the bakery case, I was greeted by at least five different kinds of vegan cupcakes and cakes. The clerk informed me that the bakery manager here is vegan! This was VCG's second act for us.

Mint doesn't have to be green.

After tasting the first selection, I began to doubt VCG's existence due to the apparent spirulina mixed in with the frosting to make it green. Not a good flavor combination, if you're thinking of trying it at home. Mr. Beloved finished the slice for me.

However, I began to Believe again after buying a second selection -- Banana!

Notice the apple in the background to show you I have balance. Those ARE my bites.

The deli also had a nice selection which included our favorite soy nuggets that I thought were only available in NC:


Tonight we're heading out toward Charleston to leaflet, work, screen my film, then play a show! Here are the Facebook invites:

Screening at College of Charleston: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=276307602365&ref=ts

Show at Outer Space: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=277481171610&ref=ts

Rob's also busy setting up regional tour shows (weekend).

Thanks to everyone for your well-tour-wishes and great support. And thank you, VCG.

February Beloved Snowbird'n Binge Tour Dates, Booking Panel, Show

A few things are occurring in the world of Beloved Binge, in this order: 1) Booking panel moderation 2) Show and 3) Tour.

First, I am honored to be moderating a panel on booking tours, as part of the Secondhand Freespace series, on Wednesday January 20th. If you are on Facebook, here is the official invite. Otherwise, here are the details in poster form:


If the other Secondhand events are any indication, combined with the number of questions I hear about touring, this promises to be a a fun and informative event. It's a unique opportunity for you the music-person to share and gather from a wealth of local resources, which, in turn, you can apply to conquering the planet. So bring a notebook.

In the meantime, please ask any questions you'd like to see covered about touring here or on the event page wall. I'll try and address them with the panelists during the event. And did I mention what a fine series of panelists they've got lined up? Experienced nice folks who can save us a lot of time. Tour-booking is time consuming enough without the extra burden of easily avoidable common mistakes.


For our next bit of news, this next Saturday, January 23rd, we'll be playing our only show until March-ish in the area. The show is a benefit for Colin M 's top surgery, and the details can be found here on Facebook or, again, in poster form. We'll be on the radio today live on WXDU talking about this show and the panel.



During our tour, and now generally at shows, we invite audience members to make drawings. Eventually, Rob and I plan to scan all the drawings and post it on our BB Facebook site.


For now, we selected one drawn by a certain Scruff depicting a show in NJ. Not only did he have time to keep my borrowed drum from slipping, but somehow to document the scene in picture form. We decided to use this picture as part of our tour poster for our upcoming tour. Big thanks to Scruff.


Speaking of which, we have some confirmed and tentative dates for both Beloved Binge and my documentary Seeing Through the Fence. If you know folks in these areas, feel free to send them along to us, and we might give them cookies or snacks. I might update this list in another post soon, but for now:

• 2/1, 5:00 PM: University of South Carolina, Columbia SC: Screening and discussion for Politics in Film course.
  
• 2/1, 7:00 PM: University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC: Screening for SAGE
  
• 2/3: 9:00 PM: Show at Outer Space, Charleston SC
  
• 2/3, 6:30 PM: College of Charleston, Charleston, SC: Screening for Alliance for Earth
  
• 2/6, 2:00 PM: Show @ Infintesimal records BBQ showcase, Jacksonville, FL
• 2/8, time tba: Flagler College, St. Augustine FL, Screening for Philosophy Symposium
  
• 2/9, 4:30 PM: Rollins College, Winter Park FL, Screening for ECO Rollins
• 2/9, time tbd: Show @ Peacock Room, Orlando, FL
  
• 2/10: Show in Titusville FL TBD
  
• 2/11, 8:30 PM: Show @ Sweat Records, Miami, FL
• 2/13, TBD: Possible show @ Valentine's Bash
• ?2/14: West Palm Beach, FL, anyone?
• 2/15, time TBD: Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Screening for SALDF.
  
• 2/16, 12:00 PM: Florida International University, Miami, FL: Environmental Law Society
  
• 2/18 or 2/19, time TBD: Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Meyers, FL: Screening for Power of One AR and Environmental Association
  
• 2/20 - 2/22: GAINESVILLE SHOW/SCREENINGS pending -- anyone???
• 2/23 St. Augustine pending
• 2/24, time tbd: Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA: Encore screening for Philosophy & Religious Studies Club
  
• 2/25, time tbd: Show @ Sentient Bean, Savannah GA
• 2/27, time tbd: Show @ the Drink, Myrtle Beach SC, with Some Ambulance and TBD
  

This time around Weston is armed with a Propane heater for those extra cold nights that leave my cooking olive oil frozen solid and Syba's water dish a mini ice-skating rink for ants, if ants ice-skated and hung out during the winter. Though we're heading south, Google weather tells me it's still chilly sometimes. As a safety measure, Weston is also armed with a fire extinguisher.

Our Gin Rummy games will continue, and I hope that my continued winnings will not embarrass Mr. Beloved as I post them on these pages. Speaking of Mr. Beloved, he reanimated his blog and will be periodically be posting back at Sloping Band House. Speaking of blogs, I now post recipes converted from traditional to vegan-style here: Hortamatic. Speaking of food, hot damn, who has been watching the Saved by Seitan video I shot with Chef Shirle and Megafaun? 9,000 + people, I guess. Can't all be my mom.

More soonish!


Love to everyone who has helped me piece together this tour and all of our projects. You know who you are?

Eleni