Day one: Wash bears and banana slugs

Drove from Oakland to Ashland on biodiesel. Dakota (the new merch girl and longtime friend) did a fine job on her first time behind the wheel of Malcolm Lovegrease Vermillion.

Kerry and Jason set up the night's shows and were very wonderful. We are staying at Jason's mother' house now - she vacated so we could have the place to ourselves. The house is filled with great old things that are very Vermillion-esque: like old medical emergency tins and tiny antique sewing machines.

We also met the "pet" raccoon. Not a pet per se because it doesn't get petted, but it does get fed and it is fairly people tolerant. The raccoon enjoyed its food while we watched (several bowls of food actually.) At one point a second raccoon popped its head up over the lip of the porch a few times before depositing something on the edge and shambling away. We realized that the thing the raccoon left behind was moving and it was in fact, a banana slug. We figured it was a present for the raccoon eating the cat food.

When our new friend was out of food she wandered away but came back when she heard her bowl refilled. Before climbing onto the porch she deposited a banana slug in the same place as the last, she then hopped up and began to eat again.

Does anyone know the deal with raccoons and banana slugs? Are they "paying" for the food?

Anywiggins, Ashland is a great town with some music loving people and NO real music venue. So strange. But we do love it here so we'll keep coming back.

12, 000 miles ahead

The tour looms ahead: 12,000 miles of Vermillion stretching off into the foreseeable future. In a flurry of tulle and velvet we hurry to finish our new costumes, while simultaneously designing the new cover for our new 7" record (out in October,) packing up and moving from one house to another, rolling Kim's cat across the floor, mapping out our tour route, booking (still!) and all the million other things we have to do before we leave - in three hours!

We're charting out bio-diesel stations, YMCA gyms, and health food stores. We have a super cute merch girl (continuing our tradition of super cute merch girls!) and someone with a fancy moustache will come along as driver for part of the journey.

We also started a new diet which is basically weaning ourselves off starchy, fried, and heavily processed food stuffs. No bread, no cheese, no french fries. No alcohol, no coffee(!) We can still eat all kinds of yummy things, just staying clear of oily, bad. Heading into a four month tour we knew we had to start a new regimen before we left so we would have some momentum to keep us going on as long as we can. It is hard to eat healthy on the road, Fritos are abundant and cheap when in the middle of the country. But we'll have a cooler full of veggies and a jar of nutritional yeast! Hurray! We're hippies!

We have new songs we are very excited about, including some which will go on the upcoming 7" vinyl record! We also have new costumes and new "instruments" to share. This tour is very exciting. Hurray! We're hippies!

And we're already working on the next album.

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