Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 32-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Portland was such a great show for us! At the end I almost cried. OK, I cried a little. To be on a huge stage with great sound and a strong set opening for the Julie Ruin was utterly incredible!!
On each of the three nights Mecca Normal played, keyboard player Kenny Mellman and Kathleen Hanna said amazing things about us from the stage. In Portland, it was quite surreal to listen while we were standing in the audience. Particularly funny: Kathleen suggesting a TV pilot idea: me working at Home Depot!
I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but after the Vancouver show we were basically invited to play the remainder of the West Coast shows. This came about because I wanted to make sure Kenny knew we had originally told the booker way back whenever that we were up for all the shows, but evidently that wasn’t possible.
As I locked the door to my apartment, ready to hit the road, I wondered how many 57-year-old women left their home not knowing if they’d be back in a few days or a few weeks. Very exciting! Adventure ahoy!
On the drive to Seattle, Dave and I talked about continuing south. I was actually a little bit surprised that he was up for it. I mean, he has an actual job and a wife. He said he’d have to fly home from L.A., but otherwise he was in. That left me to drive the rental car back alone, which was fine, actually. I had my video camera and 40 hours of blank miniDV tape that I’d had sent to our U.S. HQ south of Seattle. I figured I’d take the coastal route home and make a film on the way.
The one thing that seemed problematic was that neither of us have cell phones, and I opted not to bring a laptop because the two I have are a bit sketchy at the moment. So it would have been difficult booking motels and flights etc. without technology. All workable though.
In Seattle I didn’t get a chance to talk to Kenny. I tried to read his body language, but couldn’t come up with anything conclusive. I dunno, maybe he cries at the end of every show and invites every opening band to continue playing at shows where they’re not even on the bill. Kidding. Yes, I heard him say we’re his favorite band. Who knew?
Everyone in TJR seemed busy getting ready for the show. I didn’t really want to go barging up to Kenny to ask if he was serious or what. I got no sense whatsoever if we were continuing on to San Francisco and beyond or turning back after Portland, so we started to think it wasn’t happening.
At some point at the Wonder Ballroom, I cornered Kenny and said, “I need closure on this thing!” I didn’t want to never know what happened with the idea. Incredibly, Kenny said it was still in the works, that the booker was trying to add us to the remaining shows. I was shocked! It wasn’t until the very end of the night that we learned we weren’t going. Contracts had been signed months in advance and it just wasn’t possible. I think it was difficult for Kenny to tell us, but really, for us, it was OK. We were basically fine with it either way.
It’s a long way with only one driver in the band and we both like to be a bit more prepared for adventures of this magnitude. We absolutely would have gone for sure, but it’s always good to leave them wanting more and we’re hoping there will be other shows and tours with them. It’s a great combo!
“Normal” from the album Empathy For The Evil (M’Lady’s, 2014) (download):
