Day : Washington, DC
We're starting to really be thrown by the relative times that we're experiencing on this trip: nine days really isn't that long, but it seems like our CD release at ACT was two months ago. So, so distant. At this, the official halfway point of the tour, it feels a lot more detailed than we expected. Twenty shows on a sheet of paper looks intense to be sure, but we just didn't realize what it would really feel like! Call it the learning curve of teachers learning how to do something new... this is so cool. Okay, enough hotel room philosophy, because it's time to play:
This! Crazy! Hotel!
On today's show, we're going to highlight as as of yet unseen facet of our hotel room, the "Tandem Art" that graces our walls.
Now, when you walk in the room, you first think, "Okay, at least they put some effort into it. Bedspreads, wooden furniture, a pair of coordinating paintings-"
"Wait a minute."
"Those are the SAME PAINTING!"
It's true, at first blush, it looks like these jokers just put up two identical pieces of artwork... but look closer and you'll see that they are, in fact, DIFFERENT!
To play today's game, look at the pictures below and try to find at least five things that differ between them. It's like Highlights Magazine, but near Mount Vernon! How many differences can YOU find!?
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Over Jack's bed! | 
Over Daron's bed! |
On to DC, this time for a live set at XM Kids' Rumpus room! We met Kenny and Robbie right away and were treated to the coolest afternoon of rocking out, meeting kids and touring the XM Studios.
First of all, this place knows how to lay out a pre-show spread:
But this visit was all about the music. What a crazy fun show! Kids were a little "slow to warm," using the parlance of our schools, but by the fifth song they were OFF! THE! HOOK!
The show is going to air sometime in three or four weeks- we'll let you know when it's going to play. All told, we played twelve songs, including a rarely-hear "Doctor Wiggle" AND "Bad Ideas!"
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| The Rumpus Room proved to be the coolest room we've played yet on tour- a small but HIGH ENERGY crew of kids. We made an extra effort to get them to scream loudly so that the rooms mics would pick them up- eager to hear if it works!
Unfortunately, if you're reading this, it will reveal that we really WEREN'T wearing tuxedos after all... the magic of radio suddenly squashed.
Speaking of magic, check out Jack showing Robbie and Daron his disappearing hand trick in the XM Studio!
HOW DOES HE DO IT!?
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The hallways at XM are a total trip- studio after studio, all in a row like a shopping mall. (NOT like the NATIONAL mall, Drew). It's like a radio FACTORY!
The death metal station has a guy in full death metal regalia- Robbie says that XM really works to hire the "real deal" to run each station. The 60's show has a legitimate, leftover 1960s hippie behind the board. The 80s station has a woman dressed up like Cindy Lauper, surrounded by pictures of Max Headroom and New Coke!
And "The Loft" studio had THE OLD 97'S! That's them to the right, in the flesh.
Their tour bus makes our trailer look like it's made by Fischer Price.
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In attendance at today's show, in addition to MayMo and Melvin, were several special guests, including Jessica's mom Ces, Gwyneth and girls from Gooneybird Kids and our own Anda Adams. This room felt like family!
We went to explore DC a little more before spending our last night in Alexandria with Anda, several of her friends and an unbelievably energetic black lab named Phinney. He wouldn't stand still long enough to have a portrait taken, so here's another picture of Jack's disappearing hand trick to keep you occupied in the meantime. | 
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 | On our further explorations of the National Mall this afternoon (sorry Drew, still no Orange Julius), we suddenly came upon a hoard of people standing around something, feverishly lining up to take pictures!
Was it Xuxa?
Or Barney Frank?!
Nope. They were taking pictures of... wait for it... A SQUIRREL!
Apparently there was some sort of legislating happening over at the Capitol, but this... THIS was a moment to remember! Look closely enough and you can see it. He's no Wags the dog, but still. |
Finally, one last thing before bed: we took a short cut through the hotel laundry room this evening, a little secret passage like in the game Clue that gets us from the spot behind the hotel where we park the trailer to room 221 lickety split.
So we're crusing through the laundry room when we saw something familiar, something that would turn out to be the most prestigious piece in the Quality Inn Alexandria's entire collection.
Says it's by some guy named Gilbart Stuart?
Just another piece of crummy art, I guess.
But there was all of this security around it... weird.PREVIOUS || NEXT |  |
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