Sunday, June 13, 2010

IDAHO - LAND OF SURPRISES

So I haven't posted to "The Daily Koz" in 8 months (or is it 9). WTF, you say?! Well i can always try to pick up the pace again, to start a new day, and carry on forward boldly with my blathering about my daily experiences. and while killing off 7 hours of brutal pre-flight boredom in Boise (maybe i should have retitled this 'Boredom in Boise', but then read ahead and you'll see i had some good times).

Why am i here? It's not an existential question, though it should be. I am waiting to fly back to LA, having played Friday and Saturday night shows with my best friend Tim Joyce at the Bulls Head Pub there. We drove 14 hours from a gig Wed night in Oroville, CA - at a casino, yay! - and had to go through Cali, Nevada, Oregon and into Idaho in that time. I was jammed into the rental car way too tight and wound up pulling or rupturing a muscle, so i was limping thursday and friday, then the pain went away but my left calf got a mean rash late last night. so when i'm back in LA, my dear friend Willy (another Chicagoan -they're the best ain't they?!) is not only picking me up from LAX but driving me to the ER at Cedars Sinai and waiting out the checkup with me. I have had scary situations with my legs before, which will be documented by fall in my solo show on my decade of sleeplessness and hospitals,so i'm not taking chances this time and should be checking in at ER within 24 hours of seeing the rash. Hey, it's that or checking in Boise and finding out i miss my flight.

Boise was a beautiful city, way smaller than LA though we couldn't peg the population stats, and a lot of fun. The people at the shows were down to earth and laughed a lot, and i met the most awesome chick i've met in nearly a decade on Friday. Why does Boise have to be so damn far from LA?? I also got asked to dance by a blonde hottie after one show and had Basque food and Pop Rocks for the first time (Pop Rocks are made in Spain! Who knew?!). THen went to incredible Egyptian Theatre - a movie/vaudeville house that's cooler than HOllywood's Egyptian! - and snuck into the state capitol's senate chamber for a nap. Fo shizzle! Napped two more hours by the river in the middle of town. I felt like Huck Finn!

So it was another important reminder, after Alabama in February, that the real important things in life are not in show biz but rather in the heart of the country, where people put having families and homes first rather than chasing stardust. I still want badly to make it work out in La La Land, but now I have the extra incentive of busting my ass so i really can make an impact and have the means to take care of the big life picture and not just floating through happily but inconsequentially like a kid.

Follow me on my journey to that end. i'll really try to post regularly. Tomorrow's entry will feature the story behind my interview with the awesome John C. Reilly of "Stepbrothers" fame.

See ya.